


Persistence

by Bravehardt, Foxglove_Fiction



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: (Or an attempt at it), 5+1 Things, Boys Will Be Boys, Cuddling & Snuggling, Don't copy to another site, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nothing's Ever Simple, Science Bros, Tony Stark Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23194585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bravehardt/pseuds/Bravehardt, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxglove_Fiction/pseuds/Foxglove_Fiction
Summary: Tony wants just one simple thing - some time to cuddle with a certain sorcerer. Alas, all attempts at trying to grow their bond of friendship into something more seem to be rebuffed as Stephen seems to be averse to the notion.Luckily, Tony Stark is used to getting what he wants and is nothing if not persistent.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 114
Kudos: 280





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So we're back! We'll do some Wednesday updates for this one and then we'll see whether we have another story already completed to share or not. For now, we were originally inspired by the idea of a 5+1 - but this didn't exactly wind up as 5+1 as planned, either, haha! Instead, we used this as a little practice for writing from different PoVs for future projects.

Charity events weren’t usually Natasha’s thing and as much could be said about the one she was currently attending.

Years ago she’d participated in a few of them as an aide to Tony Stark on behalf of Stark Industries, and twice to Virginia “Pepper” Potts when the woman had been made CEO, but those - as with every other time - were all as a part of a greater mission.

Tonight, however, was different.

She’d come at Steve’s request as a plus-one, though Steve had wandered off almost an hour ago to speak with the various veterans that the charity was supporting, joining Sam and Bucky in the effort. Knowing full well that joining them wasn’t exactly going to provide her with the most entertainment, Natasha had taken up a table with Pepper, James Rhodes and his partner Carol Danvers. The trio had been providing an amazing amount of entertainment for the last while over appies.

“-which is why, in the end, they agreed to do business,” Carol explained to Pepper, cradling a sparkling apple juice in her hands. Natasha had learned earlier that night that not unlike Tony, Carol had struggled with alcoholism. Not even Earthen alcohol, apparently, though Rhodey had been doing his best to try and help her curb urges.

“So… you coerced them?” Pepper responded with amusement. “You know that’s not how we do business here, right?”

“It’s a cultural difference,” Carol shrugged slightly, “it’s not like they didn’t attempt to intimidate me as well.”

“Hey,” Rhodey interrupted quietly, nudging Natasha and pointing towards the door.

“Fashionably late as always,” the redhead responded as she followed his gesture to where Tony had entered, looking as put together as usual for these kinds of functions. It was only as she continued to watch him hold the door for someone that her expression became one of amusement.

Behind him, dressed to the nines in a way she’d only seen in photographs, entered a certain sorcerer that Natasha had yet to really formally meet. Magic wasn’t exactly in her job description and the man often seemed to keep mostly to himself, though Bruce seemed to be a fan of the man and spoke highly of him.

“Is that… Doctor Strange?” Pepper inquired, sitting up a little straighter at the sight and looking surprised. “He looks… really good.”

Stephen Strange was dressed in a beautifully classic suit that fit him so well Natasha had to wonder if the man was more wealthy than she’d been led to believe, or if Tony had sprung for the suit - which wouldn’t have surprised her in the slightest.

“Most men look better in a well-fitted suit,” Carol agreed, twisting in her spot to take a look and give a slight appreciative nod.

“I’ve been told that a good suit is a man’s version of lingerie,” Rhodey chuckled a little.

“Lingerie is a man’s version of lingerie. A good suit is a man’s version of a little black dress. Very different things,” Natasha quipped, and Pepper gave her a knowing smirk at that.

“... James…” Carol started, turning a thoughtful look on him, “how do you feel about lace?”

“It’s scratchy, and no.”

"Bummer," she stated flatly but still laden with enough amusement that anyone who was familiar with Carol's mannerisms could tell her words were heavy with mirth.

The group facing the approaching duo seemed to look up, distracted from their conversation.

Rhodey appeared to be relieved in some respect, and Carol had that narrow-eyed grin she donned when she was plotting something in her head.

"Careful boys or you're going to put me out of a job with the way you two are dressed to kill," Natasha jabbed as Tony took a seat with Strange filling in the last empty seat at the table.

"You do remember, Tony, that I told you this function started at nine," Pepper added, her eyes habitually tracing over to Strange who looked a bit put on the spot, flustered by even being the center of attention by extension.

"Yeah, well you know how I work with time, you said nine, and I told you ten - that's how I roll! Plus, it wasn't easy getting Cinderella here out of his pumpkin carriage either. Turns out bippity-bopity-boop isn't a mantra he knows how to use and there was a distinct lack enchanted cartoon animals in that dusty old building." There was a latent period between that comment and then when Strange realized Tony was referring to him.

"What? Tony, please you're the one who fussed about my appearance, I was perfectly fine attending in what I had."

"Because you own like one set of clothes aside from your robe and wizard’s hat, it was either hobo or sorcerer and thank goodness it's me we're talking about here or else you would have shown up in the equivalent of a brown paper bag."

"I would have been fine-" Tony had turned to flag down the waiter and place an order as Strange had taken a chance to retort and Nat stifled a chortle behind a fist.

"Sunshine here's just cranky because I interrupted his nap," Tony clapped a hand on Strange's shoulder and gently rubbed it. 

The doctor shrugged it off.

"You interrupted my meditation to tell me I had thirty minutes to get ready for a social event you invited me to the very same day, within the hour."

"Okay! Whoa, whoa! Calm down there. You just need to order yourself a drink and then hopefully the afternoon crankies will go away. For the record, I did offer to snuggle up with you and keep you company." The sorcerer stayed quiet, giving him a stone-cold look.

"Was it always like this between you two?" Nat leaned over amused, eyes flashing between the two men as she lightly placed a hand on Pepper's shoulder.

"Sadly, yes. After a while I just ended up tuning him out - you learn to cope," Pepper sighed with a smile.

"Honestly, it's like a white noise machine. You kind of just forget it's on most of the time and it becomes soothing background noise," Rhodey added.

Tony immediately snapped to Pepper. "I am not that bad, and second," Tony turned to Rhodey, "rude." He leaned back in his chair.

“How  _ did _ he convince you to come to something like this, anyway? It hardly seems like it’s up your alley,” Natasha inquired, watching the duo for a long moment and using the opportunity to attempt to get a better read of the sorcerer.

She’d seen some of what he was capable of, but seeing someone’s capabilities wasn’t exactly the same as getting to know them, and Strange was still something of an enigma to her. She’d done enough research to know that the ‘Doctor’ part was legitimate - the man was smart. A former world-class neurosurgeon, known for having been quite discerning in the clients he took on and leaving many disgruntled people by the wayside. He had a perfect record, and it wasn’t much of a stretch for her to realize that it was because he refused clients that posed any difficulty to that.

He was a perfectionist, and she could respect that to a degree, but the information she had on him didn’t wholly jive with the man sitting in front of her.

Sure, she’d read about the accident, and heard about his disappearance. Even now the man wore gloves and his hands flitted to his lap to remain out of sight. She could only imagine the state they were in after so many unsuccessful surgeries. And yes, he still sat straight, attentive and polite, but clearly not entirely at ease despite his history of being invited to such events as a doctor.

His confidence, to her trained eye, seemed superficial. He was trying to keep himself together even as he regarded her to answer her question.

“I owed him a favour,” the doctor responded simply, “he requested that I join him for this event as a means to repay it.”

Natasha didn’t miss the way Tony’s body tensed subtly at that and she wondered at first why. Tony had been showing a familiar comfort with Strange’s presence since they arrived, standing close, touching now and then, and offering warm, heartfelt smiles that Natasha was familiar with. Tony was, of course, a very tactile person where his friends were concerned, but there was something in that smile that reminded her very much of how Tony looked at Pepper.

Tony liked Strange - that was what her instinct told her, anyway. Strange, though, was another matter.

“Thanks for making it sound like it was some kind of business exchange rather than a fun get together,” Tony rolled his eyes, attempting to brush off his own discomfort as their drinks arrived.

Tony made the slightest movement to angle away towards Strange when there was even an iota of give in their proximity. 

Strange was close to unreadable, a stony expression with those vigilant blue - or maybe they green? - eyes, as the light refracted off of his irises. For a moment she swore she saw the doctor's poker face as near-flawless until she found his tell.

Strange flinched, glancing quickly in Tony's direction and then as if reminding himself he was in a public space, corrected and pretended as if Tony's impetuous mannerisms hadn't affected him.

So the feelings were reciprocated,  _ to an extent _ .

She smiled, leaning over and lifting her martini to her lips as she peered across the table at the sorcerer.

"You don't strike me as the type for IOU's doc," she could see the shifting of his sleeves that indicated he was fidgeting with his hands out of the line of sight.

"When the Hulk busts a hole through the Sanctum and shatters the seal of the Vishanti, the only means of defence against otherworldly threats, and Tony shows up to offer to fix the damages ranging in the thousands, I think that warrants at least a small favour, miss Romanov."

"Oh gee, how generous," Tony threw over his shoulder at Strange.

"A small favour indeed, but from what I've seen of you, this seems a lot more monumental and less trivial," she stirred her drink and Tony flashed her a look - she winked at him, sipping at the rim of her crystal glass before sitting back.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" the sorcerer knit his brows.

"Oh nothing, just that you're a really great guy," she smiled, trying to brush over the fact that she was onto him. "The perfect date, even for Tony."

Strange's cheeks faintly flushed, and he riled slightly. "I am not his date, miss Romanov."

"Technically you are," Rhodey pointed out.

“I’m just his plus-one,” Strange insisted, lifting his drink to sip at it swiftly after.

“You’re being cold enough about all of this you might be my negative-one, to be honest,” Tony huffed softly to himself and had a sip of his own drink as Pepper glanced between them.

Natasha smirked to herself a bit. “Defrost a little will you, iceman?” the man tried again, setting his glass down and leaning in against the sorcerer, reaching an arm around Strange’s shoulders.

Strange brushed his arm off with a frown. 

“I came here with you at your request because, in your own words, you didn’t want to go alone. I’m neither your date nor an iceman.”

“Oh?” Natasha interrupted before the sorcerer could make the tension in Tony any worse as the mogul recoiled. “I also happen to be a plus-one. Pepper needed some kind of arm candy after all,” she teased, nudging Pepper as the woman shrugged.

“Without one, who would get me drinks?” Pepper responded quickly and easily.

“Is that all I’m good for? I suppose I can’t fault you for that. Louboutins, right?”

“They’re more comfortable than you might think. Normally it wouldn’t be an issue, but I sprained my ankle the other day and I was told to stay off it,” Pepper sighed.

Natasha had her suspicions, but the moment Tony turned his attention to Pepper, she knew. 

Pepper had no reason to have mentioned it again like that given that she’d told Natasha about it when she asked her to be her plus-one. So they were at least on the same page about whatever was going on between Tony and his date.

“Pep? What were you doing to sprain your ankle?” he frowned a bit.

“I was late for a meeting, and I almost missed an elevator,” Pepper responded with a sigh. “Thus why I’m stuck sitting here. It would be in poor taste not to be here, but I can’t exactly do rounds on a bum ankle.”

"So this means I'm not going to be able to whisk you away for a dance, I suppose." Tony quirked his brows at his ex-wife and she simply laughed.

"Highly unlikely Tony," Pepper smirked.

Tony turned to Strange who was simply a quiet onlooker to the conversation and he had about the reaction that Tony would have anticipated. In fact, he'd answered before Tony was even able to propose the idea to him.

"No." Strange sipped at his wine, and Tony 's gaze flicked to Natasha somewhat pleading.

"Only if Carol and Rhodey join us, see who's the better dancers?" Natasha tilted her head with a challenging look.

"You're on." The blond narrowed her eyes and grabbed Rhodey by the arm and yanked him out of his chair.

"What-hey, whoa! I'm still drinking!" Rhodey dropped his utensils on the table.

"You're done now," Carol decided as Nat got to her feet.

"Come on, you." She grabbed Tony by the arm with a grin, a passing glance at Strange who seemed to take more interest in Tony now that he was absconding to the dance floor with his  _ not plus one _ .

"Whoa, just a sec!" Tony threw back his whiskey and handed it to a passing server, he then trotted off with her.

Strange turned for a moment to see his  _ date _ whisked away by the smoking red-head double agent with a flat expression and a sigh.

Once they were on the dance floor, Natasha grabbed Tony's hands and placed them on her hip and shoulder as they began to sway in tune with the music.

"You owe me one for this, Tony," she winked and he grinned, falling into sync with her movements. Tony glanced over, nodding at Rhodey who seemed to be aligned with the competitive notion of their recreational fun than previously before.

"I seriously don't get that guy, Nat..." His eyes flicked over her shoulder to the doctor in question who currently had his back turned. He seemed to be making light conversation with Pepper.

"Really? Because I do. He's not a heavy hitter like you Tony, he's more of a fragile creature, and you tend to handle him less than delicately."

“He is anything but fragile,” Tony snorted, “are you kidding? Are we talking about the same person?”

“Does he know you like him?” she knew she’d hit the right spot when Tony nearly lost his footing, looking sharply towards the table as though worried that Strange had somehow overheard her quiet words over the crowd.

“I have no idea,” Tony admitted after realizing that Strange hadn’t so much as looked up at them, though he’d shifted seats to speak with Pepper a little more easily. “That’s kinda why I asked him out to this? I wanted to try and get closer…”

“You know that getting closer physically isn’t always the best first thing? There are other ways…”

“What do you think I’ve been doing all week? I’ve been at work with him. He didn’t trust any of my contractors there and I thought that was the perfect opportunity for us to spend some more time together and maybe, you know, hit it off. What if he’s not into guys? Shit. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before…” Tony groaned suddenly to himself.

"There's chemistry there, you're just not paying enough attention. You are so preoccupied with coming on strong you're missing the small details," Nat spun him around, bending him over.

"I'm just direct." 

Nat shook her head. "Nope."

"Then what?" 

"Rowdy, at best, tumultuous. He’s an aloof guy, subtle. You need to be clever and less… overwhelming," she smirked. Tony leaned her over, holding her up by her waist as she looked up at him.

"Kiss me?" his eyes flicked to Strange and then to her.

"He's watching, isn't he?" she responded flatly.

"Yup."

"Fine, but no more than a couple of seconds."

Tony leaned in and planted his lips flat on Natasha's. He pulled away with a grin, righting her as he spun her around so she could see Strange.

"Is he looking?"

"I think loverboy is gone, good job Tony."

"Guys! Calm it with the PDA, I didn't even know you two had a thing going on," Rhodey interjected, staring as Tony as if he was crazy.

Tony glanced towards the table as though to confirm for himself, before frowning deeply and then shrugging it all off as he turned a smile on Rhodey. “What can I say? Nat’s a beautiful, consenting woman…”

“Red is really your colour,” Carol chuckled a bit, tapping her lips for a moment, and Natasha chuckled a bit at the transfer of her lipstick to Tony’s lips.

“You should wear lipstick more often,” she agreed, before giving him a cheeky curtsey. “You’ll have to excuse me, I think Pepper needs a fresh drink.”

“... did I really screw that up?” Tony inquired quietly, trotting after her back towards the table. Natasha shrugged a little bit.

“What did you expect, exactly? Does that usually work for you?” she inquired, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him.

“More often than you might think.”

“Might be a good time to revise your strategy, hot stuff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


	2. Chapter 2

"Explain to me why you're coming along on this again? You do realize we're only out here to help Thor find something for Loki," Tony shifted his weight idly, suited up and ready, waiting as Bruce bundled up his coat and grabbed some field equipment.

"Hey, I'm not going to let you guys have all the fun, literally everyone here has a cool space story except me. You know, Bruce got blasted through space, you guys all got stranded in space, and me? I'm just the chump who has to listen to it. Do you know how often Carol goes on about her space adventures?" Rhodey retorted with a little spice, frowning.

"So uh... any luck with the Doc?" Rhodey lowered his voice, elbowing Tony lightly in the side.

"No, nothing since the gala. He's been more prickly than he usually is, hasn't said a word unless it's for work," Tony kept his voice down.

Rhodey looked over to Strange and Thor, discussing something out of earshot before turning back to his best friend. 

"I mean you did kind of cheat on your date."

"How many times do I have to tell you bud, he wasn't my date and he made that quite clear."

"No, he made that quite clear."

"That's what I said!" 

Rhodey shook his head. This was such predictable behaviour for Tony. In all the years they’d known each other - well over four decades now - Tony had made mistakes like these in every one of his relationships, and Rhodey was far beyond being surprised by all of this.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. Nat said I was handling him wrong, somehow. _That he was fragile-_ ”

“Yes, he looks _very_ fragile,” Rhodey snorted.

“Everyone knows mages are squishy,” Tony responded with a little smirk, before running a hand into his hair. “But honestly, I’m not sure what to do now. I’m hoping this outing will help - I mean, it’s going to be cold, right?”

"Oh come on Tony, are you seriously going to pull that whole 'it's cold, so come huddle for warmth with me' cliche?" the colonel quirked a brow suggesting with a denunciatory look.

"Hey, don't tell me you've never pulled that one out of your pocket before with anyone, even Carol."

Rhodey shook his head. "Fair enough, but magic-man over there doesn't seem the type. You already know he's not a fan of physical and public displays. Just use your words, Tony, I can never get you to shut up, and the one time I'm telling you to talk to the guy it's like you're tongue-tied."

"Really platypus?"

"Yeah. Really." Rhodey frowned. "Just go over to him - not now, but when you two have a little time to yourself and tell it to him straight." Tony's eyes trailed on Thor and Strange as the two of them approached from behind Rhodey, Thor slapping a hand down on either of their shoulders.

"Friends, are you ready to depart?"

“Off to the snow dimension?” Tony quipped, offering Strange a winning smile that the sorcerer didn’t acknowledge in any way. He really was mad, not that Rhodey could blame him.

“Jotunheim is extremely cold. Rhodes and Stark should be fine in their suits, and Thor’s physiology is considerably more resilient than our own, but Bruce… if you have any issues whatsoever, make certain to head home when you can. This is a frozen world with high wind. It could be very dangerous to your well-being,” Strange warned the other man, and Bruce gave a nod.

“Got it. Don’t worry too much, though,” he smiled a little, pulling out a couple of unfamiliar pelts and layering them on. “I think I’ve got this.”

“What about you, doc?” Tony piped up, making another attempt at socializing with the man. “Sure you’re going to be warm enough?”

Strange only looked at him briefly before the cloak altered itself into something that looked extremely warm and comfortable. And also… a little Christmas-y with its fur-lined ridges. On second look, it seemed the inside of it was filled with something warm and insulating.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. Shall we, Thor?”

"Ready whenever, approach friends."

Rhodes and Tony both lowered their visors and stood in close next to Thor, Bruce did up his coat, pulling the facemask over his nose and mouth and lowering his goggles. Strange stood opposite to the rest and Thor lifted Stormbreaker up and summoned down the Bifrost to realm hop the small group of adventurers to the infamous Jotenheim.

"Dudes-" Rhodey looked around as they all seemed to shoot through the sky like stars in the slipstream. "This is crazy!" Excited by the notion that he was flying through space without his suit or a spaceship.

"Yeah, can't say I'm quite sold on this yet, still prefer the suit," Tony muttered a bit nervously. 

"Speak for yourself, Tones!"

The trip was over as fast as it had begun. They touched down on a cold, dark, overcast planet. Everything was ice and snow with only the faint glow of a very distant sun highlighting the mountains and structures of the planet. 

It was a wonder how anything could ever survive here and if at one point there was ever anything more than simply a desolate expanse of ice and snow.

“Does anyone need a recap on what we’re looking for?” Tony inquired.

“Gram,” Bruce piped up quickly enough. “Which is the most boring name for a relic I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot from Strange so far.”

“Gram is the Sword of Truth,” Strange explained before Thor could cut in. “As Loki is being entrusted with the role of judge in New Asgard, it’s a useful relic for him to have on hand if used wisely. It is _not_ a weapon in the traditional sense, regardless of it looking like a sword.”

“Wait, we’re giving Loki a _sword_?” Rhodey couldn’t help but ask, giving Strange a puzzled look. “Is that a good idea?”

“As I was saying, it’s not a weapon in the traditional sense. Gram itself does not kill, it simply attacks the lies one tells themselves. The more you bury your truths, the more it hurts,” the sorcerer continued. “And yes, sometimes that truth can kill. But for that to be the case, one must truly have done something heinous and lied not only to those around them but also to themselves. Gram cannot hurt those who have not caused hurt in some way or another… so don’t imagine it the way you would imagine any old sword.”

"Does anyone else see the irony in all of this?" Bruce piped up with a laugh, though it was near impossible to understand him under the layers of snow gear he had on.

"Oh, I see it alright, the god of mischief and deceit in the position of judge, given the sword of truth. I think he's going to end up stabbing himself a few times before he manages to poke anyone else with it," Rhodey added.

"Okay, and whose idea was it to give Loki the sharp pointy object?" Tony looked between the members of the party and it was almost as if Strange made efforts to avoid making eye-contact with him.

"You're a funny one, Stark. This way," Thor pointed Stormbreaker in a direction and they began to walk through the frozen desert.

The world was unlike anything Rhodey had seen before. In one direction was a vast crevasse that seemed to sunder the entire scenery - even ahead of them, the mountains along the area seemed split there. The mountains almost appeared to have great pillars of a much darker blue than Rhodey would have assumed ice would have. 

As they grew closer, it almost looked as though the spires were the opening of a large ruin, being carved from ice, sure enough, with runes that were utterly unfamiliar to him etched into them. In ways, the runes looked more like random scribbles than anything, but he was smart enough to know the difference between accident and intention when there was a certain regularity to the markings. It didn’t hurt that his suit was able to pick out some of the repeat characters easily enough.

“Who needs a temple this big, anyway?” Rhodey asked as they continued into the mountain structure.

“For the Jotun, this is truly quite a small temple,” Thor responded with an amiable smile.

“Small…? Why would you need to make something so big?” he frowned a bit, looking around further in confusion.

“Jotuns are also known as frost giants,” Strange replied helpfully.

“... Loki’s ego is about the only thing giant about him,” Rhodey shrugged, and Tony snorted in laughter in response. “They don’t seem that big.”

“Loki barely reaches the knee of a frost giant. He is a runt, so to speak,” Thor clarified, and Rhodey couldn’t help but picture tall, lanky Lokis.

They came to fork in the hallway and paused.

"I'll take Bruce and go left, the rest of you go right. We'll meet back here in no more than thirty minutes." Thor glanced between everyone in the group and most everyone nodded.

"Hey, but what if we run into some of those frost giants you were talking about?" Rhodey shifted a little uncomfortably on his heels.

"That's unlikely, I did a scan of the area before we got here, it doesn't look like there are any signs of life or that the environment has even been disrupted for decades." Bruce looked between them all.

"He's right, this place hasn't been inhabited in a long while and the Jotuns, being warriors, have no use for a relic such as the one we seek. You three shouldn't have a problem."

For a moment Tony and Strange locked gazes and Rhodey noticed the near scowl the sorcerer almost flashed.

"Jeez, even in sub-zero you can feel the bite of that cold shoulder, you really must have messed something up," Rhodey nudged Tony and Strange took the lead without a word as they both followed after.

“I don’t get why he’s so pissed! If he wasn’t my date and didn’t want to be my date, then why’s he all upset now?” Tony grumbled. “He’s such an asshole sometimes.”

“Like you’re any better,” Rhodey chuckled a bit as they followed after their subject of discussion. “Why do you like him so much if you think he’s an asshole?”

“He’s not always an asshole,” Tony sighed, “he’s really damn smart, actually nice sometimes. I don’t understand all of his magical mumbo jumbo, but when he gets on about neurosciences and biology? Or really anything he’s super into in any given moment… he gets so passionate about things, and I love having those kinds of conversations with him.”

“But you’re not into Bruce like that…” Rhodey pointed out, and Tony gave a slight shrug at that.

“No. You’re right. There’s just… something about him that’s… I dunno how to explain it. I just like him.”

"Here's what I think it is Tony, it's something you can't have, and that's probably why you're so interested in him. I believe you've finally met someone who's honestly not afraid to say no to you, and if he's really the asshole you say he is, then that's probably why you're so interested in him," Rhodey smirked, eyes hopping from Tony to Strange as the sorcerer continued to lead on, none-the-wiser of the conspiring that was happening behind his back from suit to suit.

"No, there's definitely something up with this guy, and I'm going to find out why he's got that stick up his ass. You know, he never used to be like this." 

"Did you ever stop to wonder if maybe he's not big on PDA? If you're so hell-bent on it, have you ever really had him alone? Not everyone likes the whole fireworks display Tones, and that's definitely something that's very uniquely you..." Tony furrowed his brow.

"You're telling me the magician who sucks up black holes and turns them into kaleidoscopes of butterflies, who puts the flare in sparking up an arrival - that guy, doesn't like a good fireworks show?"

Rhodey shrugged. "Either way, whatever you're doing isn't working, you gotta switch up your game."

“Are you giving me relationship advice, platypus?”

“Of course I am,” Rhodey chuckled a little to himself.

“Since when are you the expert?”

“Which one of us is in an actual relationship right now, hm?”

“Fine, fine, be saucy. What do you recommend, then?” Tony responded, leaving Rhodey to grin in his helmet.

“Are you two quite done?” the sorcerer piped up, causing the pair to snap to attention. Given their conversation had been held primarily over comms between suits, there was no way that Strange had overheard them, right? Or had he underestimated the man’s magic?

“Oh don’t act so surprised. Stark doesn’t do extended silences,” Strange continued after a moment, turning to look at the two of them. “I’m not sensing anything but a dead-end this way, but there is magic near here somewhere. I don’t suppose the censors on your suits can help at all?”

"And you aren't the type for conversations either. Miss hearing my wonderful voice, doc?" Tony took a step forward and looked around the hallway.

"Maybe all that cold is dampening your senses. You know, it's okay to admit when you're a little too chilly, I know it would be hard to admit with all the warmth you're radiating." Strange's expression hadn't changed.

"I'm sure there's enough fire between you two to keep you both warm." Tony apparently chose to ignore Rhodey's comment as he continued to survey the structure.

"Friday?" The suit was running a scan of the integrity of the walls and the room, looking for any sort of compartment or slot that the artifact may have been hidden in.

"I'm not picking anything up at the moment, boss. The hall appears to be as the doctor states, empty. Perhaps Thor has had better luck. There's a short route to the left, but the floor here is unstable - proceed with caution boss."

“You two catch that?” Tony inquired, and Rhodey gave a nod.

“Left is probably the best way to go, then,” Strange sighed, “if we’re going to make progress. As I said, I sense something magical nearby, but it’s a little challenging to determine precisely where it’s coming from,” he added.

“It’s fine, my sensors aren’t working the best with all this ice, either,” Rhodey responded reassuringly as he turned to try and locate the path to the left.

Two steps were all it took and the ice beneath his feet crumbled, leaving the trio to fall a good twenty feet into a dark pit of some sort. Tony’s thrusters were the fastest to activate, but it only did so much before something large swatted him out of the air and sent him crashing to the ground. 

A shout from one side of Rhodey helped to identify where Strange was, but his sensors weren’t picking up anything around them but ice - he had no idea what had struck Tony until something grabbed him as well, cracking the metal of his suit and utterly disrupting his sensors.

“Uh, Tones? What’s going on?”

“I would assume,” Tony started, grunting a little, “frost giants.”

“That would be a good assumption, metal man,” a deep voice echoed in the cavernous area as something far above their heads spoke.

"Isn't it a little too cold to be playing volleyball this time of year?" Tony got to his feet and stretched an arm out to aim at the frost giant.

"Missiles are offline boss," Friday's voice came over the intercoms and Rhodey heard Tony let out a sigh. 

"Of course they are," he looked around and stood back. His nanobots amalgamated into a cannon and he expelled a bright repulsor beam at the creature that stuttered backwards and seemed to catch itself on the wall, disoriented.

"You guys alright?" he yelled back, the dusty snow was still settling from the cave in, particles of frost lingering in the air.

Rhodey looked around under his visor, Strange seemed to be fine for the most part too, pulling himself up from the fall. It was less likely the sorcerer had fallen and more that he'd gotten hit by either the aftermath of the cave-in or the giant itself - and without a suit, that posed some concerns.

"Strange?" Rhodey inquired. The doctor was dusting himself off and already in a defensive stance with the two golden mandalas erected to protect them before he responded.

"I'm fine." The cloak appeared to be dusting the rest of the debris off the both of them.

Without warning, two more creatures crept out of the walls, leaving Rhodey to frown a bit to himself.

His sensors hadn’t even picked up on them - how was that? There were no heat signatures, and it should have been really easy to notice them in a climate like this.

“I call upon the Flames of the Faltine…” he heard from somewhere to his left where he could only assume Strange was doing some of his magical mumbo jumbo, but the words were enough of a jolt.

These were ice creatures. Fire would make sense to use against them, right?

“Alright, let’s light them up, then,” he responded, raising a hand to expel a spout of flame only to watch it fizzle out, his onboard computers alerting him to the fact that the damage sustained to his forearms had interrupted his flamethrower’s capabilities. “Shit…”

A bright light flared to life to one side of him before Tony crashed down into him, and left the two of them a disoriented mess.

“Note to self,” Tony grumbled, “maybe don’t try flying in a cave with giants.”

Tony raised and aimed another repulsor beam at the giant's face as an appendage came down to swipe at him. He had enough power in his suit to launch himself out of the way just in time, rolling towards Rhodey.

"Wow, that was pretty cold - someone woke up on the wrong side of the castle today." The giant bellowed in anguish as the shot pierced through it's frozen hull and it toppled over.

Of course, luck would have it that both Rhodey and Tony's suits were acting up, and Rhodey didn't know if it was simply something to do with the planet or if they'd sustained enough damage to no longer have access to most of their utility.

He'd recalled taking tougher hits before, and more than just one of them, getting up and simply walking it off.

"Friday, what's going on? Why are the suits having trouble?" Tony barked as a sword bit down into the floor beside him.

"It seems the prototype weapons systems aren't fully operational after the fall."

"You know I don't like to hear that," Tony groaned, looking to Strange who seemed to be having less trouble with their adversaries.

“Don’t let them touch you,” Strange stated clearly, pointedly dancing around grasps quickly and easily. “You’re underestimating how cold they are.”

“Shit, a lot of the components in the suits can become brittle under intense cold,” Tony informed Rhodey over their comms, not wanting to inform their opponents of that weakness. Rhodey frowned deeply.

A rather intense flame split the air in front of them and their original assailant (Rhodey thought, anyway, he hadn’t really gotten a good look at them so he had to acknowledge the possibility that he was wrong) slipped away. Taking a moment to recollect himself and take stock of what was still working was a few moments too long.

A cry caught his attention and as he jerked his head up he watched the ice building around Strange’s legs as the man was slowly being enveloped in what amounted to a crystalized ice formation.

“Doc?!” Tony called over in alarm, and Stephen shook his head.

“Stay back…” the sorcerer instructed, his hands beginning to make a few more gestures before he began to fight back the ice with fire.

"Friday, are the repulsors still good?"

"For the most part boss." Tony immediately aimed a laser at the ground where the ice was starting to climb up Strange's legs, splitting the lower area to cut off the assault.

"Rhodey, you got my back?"

"Yeah, I'm sure if we keep going at it they'll warm up to us." Rhodey laughed and aimed a straight stream of fire at the other giant, searing the beast's skin.

It reeled, taking a few steps back, howling like the other and clutching its chest. Rhodey continued to barrage the beast while Tony was at Stephen’s side, hand augmented into a sharp pick so he could shatter the rest of the ice.

"You okay?" Tony grabbed Strange's wrist, helping him out of the frozen mass when it had loosened enough.

“I told you to stay back,” Strange responded, and Rhodey rolled his eyes a little at the man’s pride before he continued. “The Flames of the Faltine in conjunction with the cold atmosphere is more likely than not going to damage your suit.”

“Then maybe aim the fire at the enemies rather than me, yeah?” Tony piped up in response, leaving the sorcerer to grunt - or say something too quietly for Rhodey to pick up. It was hard to say. Regardless, fire soon shot past him and Tony took up a spot on Rhodey’s other side as their second enemy dropped to his knees under the onslaught.

Their third enemy gathered up his fallen companion to retreat, and Tony heaved a soft sigh of relief. “Woo! Go team!” he cheered quietly.

"Let's get out of here, yeah?" Rhodey peered around a sound nod from Strange. Tony took to the air - or at least attempted to before his repulsors gave out and he was once more, grounded.

The engineer dropped to his knees in exhaustion, and Rhodey didn't miss the flinch and immediate concern laden on the aloof doctor's features as he immediately went to the engineer's side.

"Stark?" Strange questioned, moving to examine him for injuries.

"Thrusters are shot, boss."

"Alright, well then tell me what does work," Tony looked to Strange, visor up and he held a hand up to stop him, indicating he was fine. Though, his pale features stated otherwise.

"The music player-" Rhodey snorted as he heard that, "-and some of the backup heating systems but the suit is having trouble diverting power to them. Most of those processors are frozen or damaged and they will not thaw until you get somewhere warmer."

"Great," Tony sighed. Rhodey likewise felt the chill start to seep in, he assumed his suit was struggling with the same issues, they weren't built for these temperatures which were much more extreme than the most frozen points on earth.

"Alright, so what's the plan, Tones? Or are we going to be stuck here on this alien planet and turn into human popsicles?"

“I’m not sure if the cloak and I can lift either of you plus your suits,” Strange commented absently, rubbing his hands together and wincing in pain.

“You doing okay, doc?” Tony asked, apparently noticing the man’s expression. “You’re more exposed than we are, aren’t you getting a chill?”

“I’m fine,” Stephen shook his head, looking around for any exit other than the one above their heads.

“You sure? You can come cuddle up for warmth if you want. That’s the one thing I can provide, apparently…”

“Then perhaps _you and the Colonel_ should do that,” Strange responded, adjusting in his spot before levitating. “I’m going to find Thor and Doctor Banner… I expect one of them, at least, will have better luck being able to move the two of you without removing you from your suits. Being in nothing but undersuits in this climate isn’t ideal, so… that’s the best I’ve got.”

"Your loss then! I'm an expert squeeze, Rhodey can attest to that." Tony zested with a flare of amusement. "Remember that time in the jet, with the sake? You were all over me."

" _How can I forget?_ You never let me live it down." Rhodey moved in close beside Tony and they shared the heat their suits thankfully managed to generate in the cold sub-zero climate.

Strange simply shook his head and without another word rose through the mouth of the sink-hole and vanished.

There was a shared silence between them, mostly because Rhodey assumed that Tony wanted to jump right back on the subject, he could tell by anticipation laden on his comrades face that he wanted to spill like a high-school teenager chatting about their recent flame.

"Smooth, I'll give you an e-for effort Tones but that man is as cold as this place when it comes to showing any sort of affection, you have your work cut out for you."

The engineer shrugged, staying close to his best friend. "I'll get through to him, just you watch. When have you ever known me as the type to give up gumdrop?"

"Honestly, never, you're persistent to a fault." He chuckled.

"Hey! I wouldn't call it a faulty trait."

They spent a good ten minutes huddling for warmth before Strange reappeared with Thor and Bruce in tow, the trio looking down at them from the top of the hole. Strange had a sheathe tucked into the cummerbund at his waist, and Bruce remained huddled in his rather warm-looking parka at the top of the hole as Thor jumped in to join them.

“Hello, friends. I hear there are some issues with your armour?” Thor greeted as he looked between the two of them, and Rhodey sighed.

“Are we good to go?”

“Yes, we have acquired Gram. Let us make our way to somewhere clearer and return the two of you to warmth.”

“That sounds heavenly,” Rhodey found himself muttering as he allowed Thor to carry him out of the hole and settle him with the others. The big blond retrieved Tony next, lifting the man and his suit with complete ease, before looking over the group.

“Everyone is accounted for. Shall we return you home, friends?”

"My knight in shining armour, woo" Tony stated flatly, winking to Stephen. He had an arm around Thor's back and gently gave his bicep an appreciative double-pat.

"Let's get out of here before the smurfs come back for revenge with the whole family," Tony finally let go of Thor, stretching.

"Yes, we shan’t linger any longer here. We've stayed on this planet long enough." The god glanced between the party of men surrounding him, lifting his hammer into the air and once again summoning the ever-colourful and fabled Bifrost to ferry them home from the dead world.

They touched down and Banner nearly vomited, Rhodey let out a long breath, heart pounding like a war drum in his ears.

"Dude, there is no way I will ever get used to that," he shook his head and Tony immediately let his suit collapse back into his housing before he grabbed the reactor off of his chest.

"Yeah, ditto, I'll stick to flying - it looks like these suits are going to need some extensive repairs."

“Well then, thank you, friends, for your company while we searched. I am certain my brother will be immensely grateful for your efforts,” Thor greeted cheerfully as Strange removed the sheathed sword from his cummerbund and offered it to him.

“Thank you for inviting us on such an informative trip,” Strange responded, opening a portal to what Rhodey assumed was the so-called ‘Sanctum’ that the man made his home in. “Take care, and do keep an eye on your brother, okay? I’d rather not have to babysit him myself.”

The sorcerer was gone before Tony could say a word, and Thor shortly after. 

Bruce let himself into the compound and Rhodey and Tony followed. The colonel was grateful for the warmth of the summer in New York, though the metal of his suit still seemed distinctly cold.

“I never thought I’d say this, but… I think I might need some help peeling myself out of this suit,” he lamented, watching a small smirk form on Tony’s face. As expected. “Don’t even-”

“Why Rhodey, I thought you’d never ask!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


	3. Chapter 3

"So what was that yesterday between you two? I have to ask." Bruce looked up to Tony from his workstation, giving the brunette a focused glance over the brim of his glasses.

"What and who are you talking about?" Tony responded and Bruce knew he was playing stupid, it was easy to see the odd chemistry playing between the mechanic and the sorcerer, and as one of Tony's closest friends, even Bruce could overcome his quiet nature to peer into his friend's life to make sure everything was alright with him.

"Tony, I'm not stupid. You and Stephen! It's pretty obvious, as much as you think it's not, everyone can see what's going on." Bruce twirled his pen between his fingers as he examined his best friend who seemed to be caught.

"That obvious?" Tony swirled the whiskey in his glass idly, and Bruce put his pen down and walked over.

"Afraid so buddy, and it seems that the scales haven't been tipping in your favour, it's a tough one."

“What am I supposed to do about it?” Tony sighed dramatically as he took a sip of his drink. “I don’t even know if he likes guys! And he’s been pissed with me for over two weeks now!”

“Since the veteran’s event?”

“How did you know…?”

“Natasha,” Bruce shrugged, and Tony huffed.

“Of course. That traitor.”

“And Pepper, and Carol,” Bruce continued with a little smirk of amusement.

“... so many traitors, geez. What, did you join them for, girl-talk?” Tony frowned.

“Nothing even remotely like that,” Bruce chuckled softly, sitting himself down beside Tony. “They were just chatting in the cafeteria the other morning when I went for breakfast.”

"What is it with the women and always keeping tabs on relationships?" Tony rolled his eyes. This was so incredibly high-school, but then again Tony was basically a manchild when it came to his relationships anyway so Bruce shouldn’t have expected anything different.

"He likes you Tony, but I can't imagine witnessing you with another woman when you'd invited him as your plus-one would have really boded well for you," Bruce took a seat next to him, leaning over onto his elbows as he watched Tony. 

"Nat sees it, we all see it, I don't need to listen in on the grapevine to know what's going on. I've got two perfectly working eyes Tony, and I like to think I'm pretty good when it comes to knowing what's happening in my science bro's life," he winked.

Tony let out an amused snort. "He said he was only doing it to repay a favour."

"Tell me, does he really strike you as the kind of up-front dude that's barking at your door and professing his feelings? You know when little boys pull little girl's hair in high school because they like them and don't know how to say it?" Bruce started.

"Yeah but-"

"This is probably just his way of showing it."

“Stephen’s not exactly a little boy pulling my hair,” Tony huffed.

“No, that’s true. But you’re assuming a lot about how he deals with things,” Bruce reasoned, accepting a glass when Tony poured him one. “I mean, I only know a little bit about his ex, but otherwise he doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who goes out much, you know? So why would he agree to go as your plus one to a public event like that?”

“... his ego? Because, in his own words,  _ he owed me a favour _ ? I mean, I can think of a lot of reasons, Bruce.”

“Or… maybe he likes you, too?”

“You haven’t seen him around me lately. He’s barely speaking to me, and every time he looks at me he’s making this…  _ face _ .”

Bruce did his best not to snort with laughter as Tony attempted to imitate his interpretation of Stephen’s ‘face.’ His brows were pressed together, cheeks puffed and eyes slightly cross-eyed - an altogether un-Stephen-like expression, given the dignity he knew the sorcerer held himself together with.

"It's the little things Tony," Bruce added, recovering from his small fit. He brought the glass to his lips and threw the entire glass back, and Tony gave him a concerned look.

"Hey-uh Bruce, buddy… that one was a sipping whiskey," Tony laughed, reaching over to pat Bruce on the back as the other doctor began to cough and sputter from the strong influence of the amber liquid.

His hand was on the arm of the couch bracing himself as he tried to end his fit, Tony rubbing circles on his back as he tried to comfort him. He rolled his eyes, a look of pure amusement on his face as Bruce held a finger up, finally taking a full breath as the coughing stopped.

"I knew that. Phew, that stuff is strong... hits you,"

"Bruce, buddy, anything will hit you hard if you shoot it, plus you're not exactly known as the consumer among us." Regardless of his words, Tony poured Bruce yet another glass and held it still.

"Sip on it this time," he instructed with a wry smile.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Bruce asked as he glanced at the engineer with mock suspicion.

“Oh no, you’re doing that all on your own,” Tony chuckled, leaning back and sipping at his own drink.

“As I was saying,” the doctor cleared his throat to speak again, “it’s the little things. Sure, I haven’t seen you two hanging out a lot lately, but the way you two interact, the way he looks at you, and responds to you, his tendency to stand near you during meetings-”

“It’s just because he knows me best.”

“Except I think we all know that’s not quite true, is it? Sure, you two fought together and have been working on the repairs in the Sanctum together, but Wong often accompanies him to meetings, and he still chooses to stand closest to you, or sit nearest to you during gatherings.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just familiarity, Bruce. I mean, besides you, I’m his only connection to the Avengers.”

“And Peter?”

“I suppose he is pretty fond of Peter,” Tony sighed and Bruce smiled behind the lip of his cup at his small victory.

"I think both of you just need a push." Tony gave Bruce a scrutinizing look but the physicist probed further. "Some liquid courage, maybe a drink or something. I know you've been forward, you two are doing this dance, but you're both out of sync with one another."

"I'll have you know I dance just fine!" Tony rebutted and Bruce swayed with a hearty laugh.

"You know, a love potion - if there was such a thing - would come into play so perfectly here. Imagine that, huh?" Bruce tipped his glass at Tony before going in to take another generous swig from it.

"I know the guy's a literal sorcerer, and magical - but that kind of nonsense doesn't exist." Tony shook his head and nearly rolled his eyes.

"Yet, I'm sure two sufficiently motivated scientists like us could whip up something."

"I know you've got the whole Hulkenstein look to back you up, Bruce, buddy… but that's just ridiculous."

"Is it really Tony?"

Bruce gave him a curious look at that, leaning back in his seat. “For the most part, we know that lust - the first component of love - is a balance of testosterone and estrogen. The problem, of course, is that the balance therein is a delicate one. I was also reading about darcin a while back, which may also have an effect… though it relates more to female mice. And that becomes complicated as soon as you acknowledge the non-binary aspect of gender, sex and sexuality… so all we need to do for the first step of things is figure out a balance of-”

“But I don’t just want to fuck him,” Tony interrupted after staring at Bruce for a long moment. “It’s more than that…”

“I’m not… I’m not talking about sex, Tony. Science has shown there’s something of a three-step process to love. Lust, or some form of physical attraction that doesn’t necessarily equate to sexual desirability so much as a desire to be around one another, or in a physical sense. This may mean wanting physical attention such as touches, or hugs, or whatnot, depending on the sexuality of the person experiencing the ‘lust’ phase - this is the testosterone and estrogen phase. 

“Then there’s attraction, which is the ‘falling in love’ phase that people talk about. This is where dopamine comes in and the person who is ‘falling in love’ starts to feel rewarded by the object of their affection’s presence…”

“Artificially increasing dopamine can be dangerous to the person on the receiving end of that though,” Tony frowned, “that’s literally an addiction waiting to happen, and getting that wrong could have some serious repercussions on everyone involved.”

“That definitely is a concern,” Bruce nodded, sipping at his drink thoughtfully.

“I want him to love me, not be addicted to me,” Tony grumbled into his cup, staring sternly at the floor as though it had offended him. It wasn’t the floor’s fault Stephen didn’t like Tony the way he wanted him to, so Bruce wasn’t certain why he was taking it out on the poor floor, but it was receiving his ire regardless.

“Well, the last stage is of course that ‘bonded’ phase, that’s where oxytocin and vasopressin come in,” the doctor gave Tony a smile. “Which is where things are most hopeful. There have been successful tests on prairie voles with this in mind. But it’s important to keep in mind that it’s more than just the oxytocin, which can cause a wide range of issues on its own.”

“So what I’m getting from all of this that a lot of these things are about finding the right balance. And given humans are generally widely varied, finding the right balance for Stephen specifically is the goal.”

“Something like that.”

"So, what you're also saying is we need to somehow sneak him doses of this in its experimental state and see what happens." Tony perked up a bit, taking things a little off course. "Didn't strike you as the type for that kind of experimentation but I could get on board."

"No, definitely not," Bruce responded and shook his head just as quickly. "Your guess would basically be as good as mine in regards to the hormonal balance we'd need to strike with him. This is the whole point of clinical tests nowadays when synthesizing drugs or doses. There's a middle ground that needs to be achieved that works for a standard human, and then on top of that, the dose would need to be calibrated to the subjects' hormonal levels. It's the whole reasoning behind why certain untested and unproven medications work for some and not for others. Not to mention - I doubt he would appreciate it."

Tony audibly sighed, and there was a pregnant silence that stretched on between the two entrepreneurial scientists.

"So it won't work." Tony finally shattered the veil of silence.

"Most likely not, no. Not without some sort of trial period," Bruce regarded him, taking another sip from his glass.

"So why are we doing this again?"

"Well, you know, for fun? And have you really ever been the type to look at a problem and say no, Tony? Honestly?"

"You know me so well." He grinned playfully, endeared. That got him another wide grin from the other drunken doctor. "What are we waiting for then?"

Both of them knew, in so many ways, that what they were doing was not scientific in the slightest. Alcohol was spilled and the floor was sticky, but damn was it a good time. Besides, it felt like it had been ages since the last time Bruce had seen Tony smile. The engineer was invigorated by their mock-science experiment, and the two of them eventually passed out on his couch while waiting for test results.

In the morning, Bruce had no idea how a blanket had come to cover them. He was pretty sure the ground had been covered in all sorts of things, but it was clean. Their test results had been printed out and set aside on the table. Tony was still snoring against his wet shoulder - drool, he suspected. And, to his eternal pleasure, a pair of large cups of water had been set on the tables on either side of the couch, with a bucket at their feet.

He suspected Pepper, but as he recalled Pepper was busy out of town this week, which left him trying to foggily scrape together who could have come by and taken care of everything. He rubbed at his face a little and Tony gave a slight snort as Bruce sat up, and the doctor attempted to get him settled properly, before looking at the ceiling groggily.

“Friday… who cleaned all of this up?”

“Doctor Strange came by around 9AM,” Friday responded quietly. “He was looking for the boss. He found the printouts and went about organizing the room before he left. He left the blanket as well.”

“... printouts…” Bruce repeated, rubbing at his face in confusion. “Oh… oh no.”

“Oh no?” Tony echoed, shifting in his spot with a little grumble. “Oh no, what?”

"Well," Bruce hissed, hand to head as he sat up straight and fumbled around for his glasses that had also been graciously set to the side with care. "I think there might be a possibility the good doctor knows what we're up to." He set his glasses and then looked over to the neatly folded papers and then back at Tony who appeared nearly paralyzed on the table.

"What? No." Tony responded, trying to also sit up. He reached for the water next to him and cried as it was just out of range.

"Yes Tony, I think we're found out." Bruce lightly nudged the glass towards him.

"So what if he knows about our little project?"

"His name was mentioned several times in our formula."

"Shit," Tony leaned forward and raised the glass to his lips, immediately throwing back the litre of water like it was the size of a shot.

"So I guess damage control should be added to the list," Bruce took his time sipping at the glass he'd procured. He reached for the papers, squinting at some of the odd formulas and theories they'd jotted down, making faces like he'd swallowed something sour and half wondering if  _ they had _ in fact written these completely absurd things down. 

Despite the massive headache he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. "I think in the end all we managed to put together was a Viagra on steroids. I really wouldn't advise giving this to anyone."

Tony snatched up the paper and mirrored the expressions Bruce had felt. He lowered the papers and threw them aside. 

"No," he snorted with amusement. "Though it was fun, I need to figure out just how much of it Stephen read and… how I'm going to deal with that."

"If it's any consolation boss, the doctor did seem mildly amused at the robustness of your theory," Friday calmly interjected.

“Should I call and apologize?” Tony ran a hand through his hair as though attempting to fix his mess, and Bruce chuckled softly.

“Maybe give it some time. By the looks of it, he tucked us in and made sure we were taken care of so I doubt he’s too terribly upset with us…”

“Did we just make… elephant viagra?”

“... yeah. We might’ve done something like that if we assume it works on elephants.”

“... Hulk viagra?”

“Tony. Why?  _ Why would you even put that image in my head _ ? That sounds horribly unsafe…” Bruce groaned to himself, covering his face and trying to scrub that image from his mind.

“It should be useful to someone, Bruce!”

“I am  _ not _ giving the Hulk viagra! God, I can’t even imagine the damage it would do- I’d kill someone!”

“With your dick.”

“Tony!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


	4. Chapter 4

There wasn't much in terms of communications after that fiasco, Tony was ultimately curious what Stephen had come around for, and it had been long enough - give or take a couple of weeks - since his and Bruce’s drunken science project.

He wasn't sure how but he found himself in the Sanctum, having let himself in. Everyone else in his life had a habit of letting themselves into his damned workshop as if it had revolving doors so he could do the same.

It wasn't like he hadn't been to the Sanctum before either and he knew that Stephen and Wong were both on the third floor, which was exactly where he was headed.

He expected some sort of surprise as he cleared the landing of the third floor and stood in the doorway in plain sight. The two sorcerers hovered over a couple of tables with relics and open scrolls, tomes - it looked like his lab, but much more archaic.

Neither Stephen nor Wong even so much as glanced his direction, and he stood there for an extended moment before Wong finally spoke up, nose-deep in his work.

"In or out Stark, hovering in the doorway is creepy." Only the cloak lifted its corner to give Tony a timid wave.

"What, no welcome wagon?"

"We don't keep those here, no," Stephen responded, the cloak swaying with his movements as he slid between books, cross-referencing pages having yet to pay any attention to the man-sized child in the doorway.

"Well aren't you two hospitable?" he leaned against the doorframe before walking forward.

"This isn't a hostel, or a museum - while you're here though, you can help us with something," Wong finally turned to give Tony some attention as the engineer crept forward.

“Is this the part where you ask me to go get coffee?” Tony joked, and Stephen snorted, but Wong simply shook his head.

“If you really want to get brunch-”

“It’s really closer to dinner,” Tony interjected, and Wong gave him a bland stare.

“You can do that. But we have more important uses for you.”

“Now  _ that _ sounds a little bit creepy. Am I going to be a sacrifice in a ritual? Some voodoo-”

“We don’t practice voodoo, Stark, though it is a perfectly valid form of magic and not what you seem to think it is,” Strange murmured as he looked between an old scroll and something that looked like it might have been a rainstick jammed into a pretty rock.

“Right. Then what can I do for you?”

“We’re trying to figure out why this particular relic isn’t working,” Wong stated simply. “A couple of relics of late seem to have simply… stopped working, and we’re not certain why. You would make a good test subject to see if it’s simply a matter of our magic interfering…”

"I do require a payment in the form of one hug," Tony stepped forward rather cartoonishly and went to put his arms around Stephen from behind.

Stephen who wasn't really paying attention and trying to set up the relic, Stephen who suddenly was whisked out of the way by the cloak, thinking it was funny only to have Tony bump into the table and knock said relic over.

He immediately fumbled to catch the darn thing as Wong dramatically lept forward with more speed than he even knew the stocky sorcerer had in him.

Tony caught the relic, and Wong caught Tony. 

Stephen stood back and rubbed his temple, slightly aggravated and let out a sigh.

"This is not a playground Stark, we could have nearly lost priceless knowledge," Wong wasn't amused by a long shot, irate if anything. "We don't even know what this thing is capable of and we wouldn't had you dropped it."

"It's fine - I caught it, cat-like reflexes," Tony set the relic on the table and went to move away from Wong.

_ Except that he couldn't. _

He felt some sort of gravitational pull, he couldn't explain it but as Wong seized the object and moved away he felt some sort of pull, and the farther the sorcerer moved, the more disoriented Tony became.

“H-hey um… Wong… don’t… wander off…?” Tony held his head a bit, shuffling after the man in hopes of easing the dizziness and getting his processes together again. When the man stopped suddenly, Tony found himself nearly crashing into his back.

“... please, release me. I have things I need to be doing.”

“Huh? I’m not keeping you in spot I just… oh man, that was the weirdest sensation. I really couldn’t move properly… I felt really out of sorts.”

“Your hand, Stark.”

Tony looked down as the sorcerer prompted him, and found his hand clutching Wong’s robes. “That’s… odd. I don’t remember doing that.”

“I think it’s safe to say the relic may be working,” Strange sighed with some amusement, sitting at the table and watching them with his chin resting in his hand.

Tony did his best to let Wong go. A finger at a time it worked, but it was challenging. “And what do we suspect the relic does, exactly? What did you guys do to me?”

“You did it to yourself, Stark,” Wong pointed out with a stony expression.

"I definitely did not, you were the one that wanted to use me as a guinea pig to test out a relic that you thought wasn't working - news flash Jackie Chan, it is." Tony was tugged along as if he was shackled to the other sorcerer, he couldn't seem to let go of Wong, especially when moving. "Why the hell does something like this even exist?!"

It was as if his body was acting on its own accord and rather than helping out, the good doctor seemed more interested in studying the effects of said relic rather than finding a way to unhinge the engineer from his companion sorcerer.

"In any case, you are going to have to let go of me Stark if you want to find a solution to this problem, I can't very well research this conundrum if you don't." Wong's look was something to behold, and Tony let out another frustrated sigh.

"I literally can't," Tony reiterated with another attempt at trying to lift a finger, only to have it jitter and snap back onto Wong's robes.

The cloak unlatched itself from Strange's shoulders, backing right into Tony's personal space, causing the brunette to jump a bit and move closer to Wong.

He found himself joined at his side to Wong as he bumped into the other man, just as his hand was. It wasn't too long until the cloak seemed magnetized into Tony's side and despite attempts (quite comical to watch) of it trying to fly away, it simply couldn't under the influence of the relic.

"You know this kind of reminds me of that one game," Strange hummed, "where you roll around a bunch of trash and just accumulate mass as it picks things up. It's interesting that it only affects sentient beings so far..."

"Are you calling me trash, Strange?" Tony snapped back, starting to become irate.

“You’re twisting my words,” Strange responded, though he wore a small smirk as he watched them. “I’ve never seen Wong so affectionate, either. This is quite a display.”

“Strange,” Wong’s tone was a warning as he turned his gaze on the sorcerer, “I don’t see you helping with this situation.”

“And what would you like me to do, exactly? We don’t know what it is. We don’t know why it suddenly started working for Tony when it wouldn’t work for anyone else. I still don’t even know what year to start with for this particular artifact.”

“Well, if you don’t mind getting started on that before we collect up any  _ other _ strays…” Tony piped up as he did his best to keep from touching Wong with any other part of him.

“I thought collecting strays was a hobby of yours?” Strange responded, turning his attention to the scrolls in front of him as he resumed his search. “This just makes it a little easier, doesn’t it?”

The cloak flailed in distress against Tony's side before seemingly giving up and going limp, it's collar drooping and Tony almost wanted to give the thing a pat.

"I'm sure if you got a closer look you could get to the root of the problem, I can imagine how hard it is to try and find a solution from all the way over there," Tony taunted.

"If I'm going to be stuck to you for the foreseeable future Stark, then we should at least sit down," Wong grumbled.

"So is that thing supposed to be the literal version of a 'chick-magnet?'" Tony looked to Wong and Stephen, neither seeming to find the quip funny at all or at least Stephen was doing his best impression not to.

"Really,  _ nothing _ ?"

"It may not be as much of a joke as a hypothesis," Stephen rubbed his chin, looking over the inscriptions on the sceptre. "What we do know is that this piece belonged to a king or figure in high power at some point, but that's about it."

"So some rich guy paid a sorcerer to engineer a stick that could get him laid," Tony said flatly.

“Possibly. I somehow doubt with your current predicament sex would be the outcome, however. I imagine it’s something more than that,” Stephen tilted his head slightly. “Describe some of the symptoms to me. What are you two feeling, what’s causing you to be attached? Are you feeling physical pain when you try to move away or…?”

“When Wong walked away before I just… I got dizzy. My head hurt. I felt like I needed to be holding him or the situation was just going to get worse. Now that we’re in contact, that dizziness and aching have subsided, I just… I feel like I need to literally be pried away from him. I can’t let go. Maybe a couple of fingers, but it’s really hard,” Tony sighed. “It does feel almost magnetic. A very strong magnet, mind you, but… magnetic nevertheless.”

“Wong?” Strange turned his attention to the other sorcerer as Wong and Tony took a seat. The man grunted and shook his head.

“I don’t feel the magnetism. I can feel the strain in Stark’s body as he tries to pull away, though I don’t doubt that he’s making an effort and that this isn’t intentional,” Wong sighed. “It might also be worth noting that it’s not as though Stark is sticking to everything. So finding out what he does or doesn’t stick to may be a way to figure this out.”

"No offence but I usually don't need relics to get people's attention or affection." There was another fruitless attempt to try and break free of the heavy cling that was influencing his body.

The cloak simply hung there, admitting defeat as if it understood more about the situation than the rest of them.

"You sure you don't want to get in on this sugar, Stephen? I thought I knew you to have quite a sweet-tooth," Tony opened up his one free arm and Strange shook his head.

"I think we both know that would be counterproductive Stark, the last thing we need is to have all of us attached at the hip and then nothing would get done."

"Are you calling me a bad influence?"

"I said no such thing, but I won't disagree on that notion," Strange zested right back with a smirk.

"If you two are done flirting, could we please focus here?" Wong slapped a tome into Tony's lap, a rather hefty one at that.

"What's this?" Tony questioned, flipping through the dusty pages.

"An archive of all documented relics, one of many, it may have further information."

"I can't read any of this, it's all in another language."

"I'm sure one of your many computers could decrypt it, or you know, that thing you have between your shoulders called a head," Wong gave Tony a stony look.

"Someone's spicy today," he muttered quietly as he opened it up and started to scan through.

Tony procured his glasses as he looked down. "Friday, could you do a scan of the book, translate and see if there's anything in here regarding our current predicament?"

“This appears to be in an old form of Scottish Gaelic, boss,” Friday informed him simply. “Should I download the relevant learning materials for you as well?”

“I’don’t plan to learn Gaelic, Fri, that’s what I have you for,” Tony rolled his eyes a little bit, smiling fondly regardless.

“Perhaps you should. Who knows when it might come in useful?” Strange suggested, not looking up from his work.

“Listen, I am already knee-deep in Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and German for the sake of investors and business partners, Italian for reasons, and when I’m really tired I still manage to butcher the English language. I think I’m doing fine in the language department. I can’t think of a single reason why I might need to learn a language that’s comfortable with tossing every letter of the alphabet into one word.”

“I’ll let Peter know that he can mock you behind your back in Gaelic, then,” the sorcerer hummed, and Tony’s eyes narrowed.

“... pardon?”

“I’m sorry, was my English not clear enough for you?” Strange looked up with a sly smile. “Or should I speak more slowly?”

"Oh, do speak more slowly so Wong and I can watch you make a fool of yourself." Tony flipped through the book further.

The sorcerer in question didn't so much as bat an eye at the comment, simply turning through pages continually.

"I haven't found anything on the relic in here boss." Tony was checked in the stomach with another heavy book as Wong thrust another into his lap.

"Keep looking," came the sorcerer's gruff and commanding tone as Tony grimaced some and started to look through it. There was a moment as Friday scanned the second book and it seemed a bit more promising.

"This book does contain information on the relic, shall I read it for you boss?"

"Yes," Wong responded and Tony frowned.

"Hey, nobody talks to my Friday like that but me," Tony barked,

"The relic appears to be of Gaelic origin after all. It was used to magnetize stones and move large objects, it was believed to have originated as a gift to the Celts. It has carbon-dating similar to stone-henge which means the relic was likely used in its construction. It's supposedly rumoured to manipulate gravity and binding forces."

"Friday!" Tony frowned.

"You would have asked me regardless,” she quipped, and Tony sighed.

"So does it say anything on how to reverse the supposed gravitational polarity? And why it's only affecting sentients?"

"Nothing, I guess a good magician never reveals his secrets. Though it does mention struggles with keeping the polarity of the relic consistently maintained which leads me to believe it will wear off with time."

"How much time?"

"Give or take a day by my calculations, based on the wording.”

“I guess it’s sleepover time,” Tony sighed, starting to try and lean back only to find himself restricted in doing so. He grumbled at that, looking up to see Wong’s stern expression, and Strange’s amused one.

“Oh, this should be good,” Strange chuckled to himself, sitting back in his seat and watching the trapped trio. “This will be the most snuggly I’ve ever seen Wong.”

“This isn’t snuggling. This is clearly not snuggling in any way,” Wong huffed. The cloak simply wrapped itself further around them, to Strange’s clear amusement as he did his best not to laugh behind his hand.

“No, no of course not. How silly of me. I hope you two have just the  _ best _ night.”

“Seriously, doc? You could always join us you know. Wong’s pretty comfy, you know. Plus, we have the cloak. We’re holding it hostage.”

“I can see that.”

"You're really missing out," Tony added, half-muffled from behind the cloak's collar.

"I'm pretty sure I'm just fine," Stephen added with a wide grin.

There were no dispels for the wand, no undo's, the relic was primitive, and had no other nuances other than whatever it touched, it bound to objects alike with the force and will exhibited upon it.

Tony frankly didn't enjoy being bound to Wong. 

He was as consistently close to Stephen as he had ever been and yet held apart by this stupid relic which ironically kept them at a distance.

There were points where Tony could feel the influence of the relic weakening, and if it weren't for the mind-numbing exhaustion and vertigo that came with the almost literal separation anxiety afflicted by it, Tony would have been able to breach the gravitational bindings and free himself.

The only plus side of this was that the cloak was pretty damn comfortable as a make-shift blanket, and he found himself huddled up underneath it against Wong in Stephen's study by nightfall with a mug of tea in his hand.

“So,” Stephen mused lowly, “what are we going to do about you two? Are you sharing a bed tonight?”

The sorcerer had been in fantastic humour about the whole situation, clearly enjoying this at their expense and displaying no shame about it. Tony simply groaned in response and rested his chin on Wong’s shoulder as he sipped at his tea.

“No.”

“Well, what other option is there?” Tony inquired with a sigh. “Are we going to pull an all-nighter and hope for the best?”

Unlike Stephen, Wong was  _ not _ in good humour about the situation. He was making the best of it, but he wasn’t enjoying himself, and it was really dragging on Tony. 

He was tired. Mostly, he was tired of the jabs Wong made.

He understood that this kind of closeness was uncomfortable for the other man - it wasn’t exactly a pleasure for him either - but even after only a quarter of a day, he was growing weary of this persistent back and forth. Stephen’s humour and smiles seemed one of the few things that helped calm them both.

“That isn’t the worst idea you’ve had,” Wong reasoned, seeming to catch on to his mood and attempting to be more accommodating. “Shall we eat, first, at least? See what comes from there?”

“Tell you what: dinner’s on me, sourpuss. Let’s make sure we eat well.”

After a hearty meal that was left up to Wong's discretion, considering all the members of this party, he seemed to be the most irate. Nerves seemed to ease some after dinner, and Tony could have honestly cared less whether he was strapped to the other sorcerer or not.

He was normally wired from the constant stimulation of lights and background noise from his own workshop. In the Sanctum, it was oddly quiet and the only sounds came from the hum of the old lightbulbs and radiators in the room. Tony couldn't help but find himself falling fast asleep against his librarian companion on the love-seat they'd both been occupying in the study. That, and Stephen was constantly setting tea down for both of them and, well… it was no coffee, but he drank it anyway.

The cloak curled around Tony fully as his eyes felt heavy, and he found his arm wrapping around the red fabric in turn as he succumbed to the heavy influence of sleep.

It may have been sometime in the early morning when he woke up and Wong had managed to detach himself from Tony, only leaving the engineer with some lingering nausea.

The cloak, however, had stayed to keep him warm, and he was a little disoriented when he'd woken up in Stephen's study with only a single flickering candle keeping the room lit in the early morning which Tony could have only assumed was still persisting thanks to residual magic.

Stephen was oddly still awake, working away despite their liberation, and as he cracked an eye he had to wonder if the sorcerer ever slept as hypocritical as that strain of thinking was.

“Gonna sleep?”

“Can’t sleep,” the sorcerer responded quietly.

“Come join us…” There was a sleepy jovial slur to his voice

“I’m sure you’d like that.”

“... kinda. But I have the cloak, so I’m pretty well cuddled. Thought you might enjoy it.”

“Rest, Stark. I’ll have the cloak bring you to a spare room so I don’t keep you up. I didn’t mean to disrupt you.”

“You didn’t. I just… do this sometimes…” Tony yawned, and the cloak swaddled him, lifting him carefully.

“Goodnight, Stark.”

“‘Night, Stephen…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


	5. Chapter 5

_ It seemed as if Master Stephen had wanted to indulge his affinity for the one he referred to as Stark. I wasn't quite as taken with this human as I was my master, to begin with, but he has since shown that he is more than what my initial assessments credited him with. _

_ For some time I've kept an eye on things. Master Stephen would open up to me in his weakest moments; Stark seemed both to be the root of his problems and the focal point of his affections.  _

_ In my time communing with the humans and even my master, I've grown to understand - through not only their magical draw but their emotions - that the two are inexplicably enticed to one another on levels that magic and words alone cannot state. _

_ They have a connection and as a silent onlooker, it sometimes seems frustrating to watch. _

_ Sure, at first I was hesitant to indulge this, but this human grew on me. _

_ I would like to see where this goes... and perhaps see my master happy for once since his anointed position of Sorcerer Supreme. _

* * *

Stephen had ended up sending the mogul home early in the morning, it was short-lived and the mood-swing between the night before and that morning felt abrupt as Stephen hurried Stark out of the Sanctum through a portal home.

The cloak sped through, following Stark and while the humans didn’t seem to understand, the cloak had made its decision.

“You’re on the wrong side of that portal, buddy,” Stark chuckled at the cloak, tilting his head. “You didn’t bond to me overnight, did you? Stephen doesn’t need any more reasons to dislike me, you know.”

It seemed odd to the cloak that for all the trouble it had understanding humans, humans seemed to so easily misunderstand each other as well. 

The cloak remembered taking Stephen home from the party. It remembered how thoroughly distressed the other had been and how sullen he’d become over the next several days. He’d thrown himself into work. He’d vented his frustrations to the cloak about Stark’s behaviours - he’d been angry with himself for misinterpreting Stark’s behaviours.

But the cloak recognized that it had an opportunity now as it wrapped itself around Stark’s shoulders and gave a little flutter. It knew it’s presence led to openings for conversations about Stephen - and it would give it better insight into how Stark felt about the sorcerer, beyond what seemed to the cloak to be blatant pining.

“... so you’re just gonna hang out with me for a little bit, are you? If Stephen gets upset with me, I’m going to blame you. Just so we’re clear on that.”

The cloak fluttered in response, it's collar nodding.

"You know I have questions about how Stephen knows how to portal me to my room, but I'm not going to bother asking since I'm way too tired." Stark sighed and looked at his phone, it was about 4 AM, and the cloak ruffled with amusement and gently eased him off his feet, carrying him over to his bed.

It had been to Stark's room with Stephen when Stephen had come to the compound while they were drunk, though it could imagine why Stark had questions like that. 

Humans seemed odd about their personal spaces, though the cloak didn’t wholly understand  _ why. _ It simply knew that it was the case. 

"I'm just telling you now, I sleep in the nude, so you might want to hop off if you don't want  _ me _ all over you." The cloak simply migrated off of Stark's shoulders as he divested himself of his clothing, but once his shoulders were bared it hopped right back on again and was rewarded with a curious look.

This was nothing new to it,  _ silly human. _

The things Stephen had told it and the things Stephen had requested of it had paled in comparison to Stark's quite humble warning.

“Well, if you’re sure.” The man shook his head a little as he crawled into bed, and the cloak was happy to act as a blanket for him. “I’m going to be sleeping for a couple of hours so uh… Fri? If the cloak seems like it needs to leave, please give it the access it can? I never know when that wizard might need it,” Stark informed the voiceless entity the cloak knew was called ‘Friday’ though it was fairly certain Friday was a day.

Cocooning Stark in its folds, he gave the man’s face a couple of light pets to try and soothe him, before watching as he began to doze off. His eyes closed and he wrapped his arms around a part of it, pulling it close and giving it a slight sniff.

“You smell like him,” he murmured softly, in a tone the cloak knew to be a sleepy one. “It’s nice… it’s a little bit like cuddling him. ‘S all I wanted, you know, earlier? I just wanted to give him a hug when you yanked him away. Caused a bunch of trouble you did…”

It was pretty funny to watch, the cloak could admit to itself. Funny to watch, but slightly less so to be a part of.

The cloak didn't have much in terms of conversation to respond with. It was but a wall that Stark talked to and it knew that silence was golden in that it offered up many avenues for those that normally didn't open up to do just that.

Talking to someone and being in the presence of judgement was one thing, but speaking with an entity that had no voice of its own, no visual indicators was in some way easier. The more Stark droned on, the more he felt like opening up, especially since the cloak was close to Stephen, but wouldn't be able to ever repeat any of what he was saying back to the sorcerer.

The corners of the cloak gently brushed over Stark's face and it watched as the engineer drifted in and out, seemingly teetering on the edge of sleep. As soon as it thought Stark was asleep, he seemed to rouse some as if wanting to add more on top of the plateau of thoughts he had built up.

"He saw the plans, didn't he? The ones Bruce and I had made when we were plastered." It was more of a statement but the cloak knew it was a question.

It gently squeezed him in response, and Stark seemed to take that as a yes.

"I'm surprised he wasn't upset with that, they were pretty explicit," he mumbled quietly with a soft laugh.

Giving the cloak another little squeeze, Stark sighed and nestled into his pillows some. “Guess I’ll have to figure something out…” he trailed off. He didn’t speak again for several hours.

“Boss, Captain Rogers is here looking for you,” the ceiling voice disrupted the man’s rest a few hours later, and Stark gave an altogether amusing whining noise as he pulled the cloak over his head as though to shield himself from the voice.

“He came with coffee,” the ceiling voice added.

“Fine,” the engineer continued to whine from under the cloak. “I’ll be there in like… five minutes. And tell him if he puts creamer in my coffee instead of milk, our meeting will be abruptly ended.”

“You got it, boss.”

“I dunwanna get up…” Stark’s voice was muffled into a pillow as he complained softly to himself before slowly sitting up and giving the cloak a confused look. “... oh. Oh! Right! Hi! You’re still here!”

A few gentle strokes over the fabric was the greeting Stark gave, and the cloak slipped away and gave a little flutter of greeting itself. It was fairly used to helping its master get dressed, and so it was by habit that it slipped over to the wardrobe and began to pull out an outfit for the man. It tried to recall what he usually wore and wound up pulling out one of the graphic Ts Stark seemed to prefer as well as a comfortable pair of slacks and socks.

Stark stared at it dumbfounded for long enough that it began to wonder if it had made a mistake.

“... wow, you’re really a full-service cloak, huh? No wonder Stephen likes you.”

The cloak nodded it’s collar, holding up the outfits for Stark to pick from.

"You know what, I'll let you play dress-up with me, just make sure that whatever you end up picking goes good with red." 

The cloak pulled out a couple of options before it decided on one of the outfits and Stark quickly changed into them before it settled down around the engineer’s shoulders. Stark reached up to give it a gentle pat before sighing, heading out of the room and going to the lobby to meet Rogers.

With the outfit he was wearing he looked like some indie-rock artist making a statement with a bold cloak, but it did nothing but undermind Stark's authority which the engineer generally seemed to have no issues with regardless.

The cloak squeezed his shoulders as he gave the relic a gentle pat.

"You ready to see the competition?" Stark joked and the cloak shivered in disdain. "I'm joking. He's got nothing on Stephen, but it's nice to know you're on my team, red," Stark smirked, heading towards the gallery of the building.

He waved a hand to Steve as his teammate walked towards them, the blond appearing almost confused for whatever reason. 

"Is Strange here?" The blond looked between Stark and the cloak.

"Oh, no, I'm just making my own version of the cloak, you know because I'm such a fan." Rogers quirked an inquisitive brow.

“Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery or something like that?” Rogers questioned, giving the cloak a scrutinous look. The cloak happily fluttered at him. “... it really looks like his cloak. How did you manage to…?”

“It  _ is _ his cloak,” Stark confessed with a chuckle, sitting himself down and cradling the offered cup of coffee. “It followed me home the other night.”

“Odd, I never see that thing away from him. How are things going with the two of you?”

“... not great,” Stark sighed, sipping at his coffee, “but not awful? I mean, he’s talking to me again at least.”

“Is… it safe to talk about him around his cloak?”

“I imagine that depends on what you have to say.”

“About your crush,” Rogers clarified, and Stark chuckled.

“Well, what’s it going to do? Tattle on me?” 

“I don’t know!” the taller man responded, giving the cloak a perplexed look. “It’s magic! For all I know they communicate telepathically or something!”

Stark seemed to consider that for a moment, looking down at the cloak on his shoulders. “I suppose that’s not impossible. But really at this point does it matter if he finds out? I don’t know if Bruce mentioned, but Stephen found our little-”

“Love potion, yeah. I heard,” Rogers interrupted, looking at least a little amused at that. 

For a moment the cloak was reminded of Stephen’s expression when he’d found it. As annoyed and hurt as the man had been earlier in the day and leading up to that, his expression had softened considerably when he’d found it. He’d even gone to all the lengths of tucking them in and making sure they were comfortable.

“I have to tell you though, Tony, that… sounds a little unethical altogether. You know, making something that makes someone love you without their input on the matter.”

“Oh geez, is that why you’re here, Steve? To scold me for what was a drunken joke that I never would have actually used? Did you give Bruce heck, too? Tell him what a bad boy he was?”

“What? No! I’m not… Tony. Look…” Rogers sighed a little, running a hand into his hair. “I’m about zero-for-three on relationships so it’s not for me to judge but we’re all a bit worried about you. We want you to be happy, but it’s also important to all of us that you’re in a relationship that’s  _ healthy _ \- not just for you, but for everyone involved.”

“We?” Stark inquired, “who is ‘we’?”

Rogers had a neutral expression on his face while Stark was clearly starting to get flustered.

"We, as in me, Nat, Pepper, Rhodey, Bruce… Everyone here cares about you. We're family and we're looking out for you, we've got your back." Rogers made a gesture with his hand to Stark seemed to almost recoil a bit in defence with the admission.

The cloak gave a gentle squeeze to Stark's shoulders, a silent onlooker but assuring him that everything was fine and it felt Stark relax under its influence.

"Right, yeah, thanks. I don't need anyone poking into my romantic life - I appreciate it but I've got this." This earned a nod form Rogers, then a moment of silence followed.

"Anyways, I was trying to plan some sort of dinner, I know you're usually the man when it comes to planning this sort of stuff but for old times sake, I wanted to get the team together for a dinner. You can bring Stephen, and Peter too if you wanted. I was hoping to get everyone involved," Rogers smiled tilting his head a bit.

"Everyone?"

"You and I both know it would be great to reconnect after what happened, and I'm just trying to find ways to do that," Rogers stood his ground though gave room for any strong opposition on the idea.

The cloak regarded Rogers and observed as Stark seemed to think on the matter a bit.

"Yeah, sure - what's the date?"

"Tomorrow night, it's last-minute but it's more of a casual thing, that's why I'm here," Rogers smiled, patting Stark on the shoulder and nodding to the cloak.

The cloak lifted a corner to wave gently as Rogers retreated, and he felt the engineer relax some more as the captain left.

“Guess we’re doing dinner tomorrow night. Hope mister wizard pants is going to be free for this… it would be nice to spend some time with him.” The cloak shifted a little in question and Stark chuckled. “Last night totally didn’t count, we were in emergency relic-doing-a-weird-thing mode. And apparently he didn’t want to do the fancy gala hanging out thing… 

“I just don’t know what to do with him, to be honest. I want to be friends. I want… I want to ask him out, but I have no idea how to at this point. Maybe he’s just not interested? Maybe I’m reading everything wrong.”

Stark sighed and sipped at his coffee, pulling out a tablet and setting it on the table. “Guess there’s no point worrying about it. We can head back over to the Sanctum in a little bit and see if Stephen’s up to it, hm? And bring you back before he thinks I’ve stolen you.”

The cloak responded with a gentle squeeze around Stark's shoulders and a small shiver.

It was a shame to be a passive onlooker on either side of the spectrum. Both it's human and it's human's target of affection seemed to share mutual desires to further a relationship. Yet, throughout the course of many misunderstandings and bungled opportunities, the two seemed to be driving a wedge further between themselves unnecessarily.

The relic stayed still as it contemplated things, and it deemed Stark worthy enough to trust with courting it's human. They both wanted the same thing, after all, they both just needed a little bit of a  _ push. _

When Stark finished his coffee he stood up, stretching a bit and heading for the front. "I won't fly too fast for you, alright? Did you want to stay on my shoulders or did you want me to carry you?" Stark grinned, waiting for the cloak’s answer before he suited up.

The cloak took the challenge it perceived quickly. It didn’t need to be carried, and if Stark thought he could out-fly it then it was ready to test that theory. It darted out the door well before Stark had suited up entirely, making its way back towards the Sanctum at breakneck speeds - speeds it couldn’t normally reach, lest it cause Stephen harm.

This wasn’t the same.

The cloak was free to move as quickly as it wanted, not bothering to wait to see if the human in his metal suit could keep up as it darted across the countryside and towards the city.

The speeds at which they flew matched those of what his suit normally propelled him at and the cloak was determined to show up its companion, flying with vigour in the direction of the Sanctum and pulling ahead, really giving the mechanical genius a serious run for his money. 

The two continued to race, neck-and-neck until they arrived at the city, both stepping down moments later outside of the Sanctum with the cloak forfeiting its victory to the engineer.

"You were pulling your punches red, we're going to have a rematch at some point." The cloak nodded its collar and nudged into Stark affectionately before flying into the awaiting doors of the Sanctum with Stark following in after.

"Laundry delivery," he called out, following as the cloak levitated towards where it knew Stephen would be waiting.

“Oh, so you’re back.” For a moment the cloak didn’t know if Stephen was responding to it or to Stark. Typically Stephen was more friendly with it than this, but it had sort of disappeared without warning and stayed away for a long period of time.

As it entered the library where Stephen sat sorting books, its master didn’t even look up to greet it. Perturbed by this, the cloak slunk closer and settled itself on Stephen’s shoulders, though it didn’t get a response from that, either.

Stark joined them soon enough, leaning in the doorway to watch the pair. “Are we so familiar now that you don’t even bother to come to greet me at the door?”

“I figured you’d come in whether you were invited or not.”

“Now you’re just being rude, that’s uncalled for,” Stark huffed.

“You came in. I didn’t invite you. You proved my point.”

“You didn’t send me away, either,” the engineer pointed out, coming closer to pull up a chair across from Stephen, looking pensive. “You still haven’t, in fact.”

“Yet you’re assuming that no protest is the same as a welcome.”

“Oh, I’m definitely not mistaking this for a welcome. I don’t feel welcome at all. You’re being pretty frosty about all of this, in fact.”

Stephen’s eyes flicked up for a moment to look at the man before he gestured around. “I’m busy, in the middle of things. Am I supposed to drop everything just because you’ve decided to stop by unannounced?”

“I can see why the Sanctum might not get guests so often, and I think you've been hanging around Wong so much that he's starting to rub off on you," Stark crossed his legs, leaning back in the chair and staring back at the sorcerer with just as much intensity. "And yes, usually some muster the bare minimum for guests.”

"You are far from a guest here." That came out much more aggressively than the last and the cloak's collar curled in a bit.

There was a palpable aura in the room, and the cloak almost shifted a bit uncomfortably in its spot. Stephen normally didn't act like this around Stark, and it wasn't sure as to why he was being so bristly right now.

It could feel the tenseness of Stephen's shoulders, tightened as though the sorcerer was clearly making attempts to keep all signs of the engineer's presence ignored.

It could sense the auras, where normally the two seemed to be a complimentary font of energy in proximity despite the abrasive tendencies of Stephen's personality, the two's presence felt like oil and water - as if their turbulent energy was a disruption rather than a quiet occupancy.

That energy rippled through the Sanctum and the building creaked, settling a bit. Even for a sentient relic, it could tell their energy was slightly distressing the area.

“Okay, what the hell is your deal?” Stark frowned a bit in his spot, staring sternly at the Sanctum master. “Yesterday you were off but not being a total asshole. Are you that pissed that the cloak stayed with me last night or what?”

“I’m trying to work, Stark, and this is the second day in a row you’ve intruded on that. I don’t come into your offices and interrupt you while you’re working, do I?”

“I’d be happy if you did!”

“I’m not inclined to slack off where doing my duties are concerned.”

“Excuse me?” Ohh, yeah he sounded pretty upset by that. The cloak hesitated for a moment before flitting over to the man to curl around his shoulders reassuringly.

“Don’t you have a job to do, Stark?” Stephen responded rather pointedly as he looked up briefly, his expression bland and dismissive.

"You know people tend to take time for those they care about in their life," he started, turning a narrowed gaze to Stephen. 

"Not all of us have that luxury," was the insipid and very dodgy answer Stephen shot back.

"You have adversaries knocking down your door. Anyone can come up with a million reasons not to do something Stephen, but it only takes one good one to go and do it," he paused, and there was a visible lump in his throat that bobbed as he swallowed. "Clearly I'm not worth the effort."

Stephen didn't bother to turn around, and Stark stood without another word, the suit enfolding around him as the cloak jumped back.

Stark took off without another word, only the vapour trail from his repulsor a lingering trace of his presence.

The cloak turned to Stephen and if the relic could talk it would have an essay.

All the work it had put into trying to help its master and for what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: To the best of my (Foxglove) knowledge the cloak can move at approximately 25 mph - this is considerably slower than the beyond-the-speed-of-sound speeds that the Iron Man suits can reach. But that's comics, and seriously did you guys not see how fast the cloak moved to have caught Stephen after he went over the railing? So we have speedy cloaky here. 💖
> 
> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


	6. Chapter 6

The compound was busy today. 

There were no emergencies, and yet everyone was running around, socializing, and working. 

Many of the people running around were staff helping to prepare for the ‘small’ dinner Roger’s had coordinated, setting up the conference room table and chairs, and setting out cutlery. Others were preparing food in the formal kitchen rather than the communal one the Avengers tended to share.

Tony, however, sat quietly at the table sipping a glass of whiskey.

The guests were filtering in whilst Steve and Pepper were apparently arranging the place settings and food, so there wasn’t a lot for him to do but wait and bask in his grief. 

Stephen was supposed to be here. He was supposed to have invited him.

_ God, what even was all that the other day? _

Stephen had seemed in good humour the day before when he and Wong were stuck together. He’d thought they were over the whole cold shoulder thing.

Apparently as it turned out, Stephen Strange was just an asshole - and Tony had gotten so caught up in his own emotions that he just walked out without inviting him.

He’d spent hours and hours last night thinking of all the witty retorts he would have made if he’d not been so thrown off by Stephen’s aloof attitude. Comments about Stephen barging into his lab unannounced while Bruce and he were sleeping in particular.

Natasha took up a seat beside him soon enough, pouring a little more into his glass for him as Tony sighed heavily. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

“I dunno,” Tony shook his head, looking at her. “Sleep, maybe? Rest...no..”

“I believe that. I take it things haven't been playing out in your favour." She leaned over onto her elbow, running her finger over the edge of the glass as she invested herself in the conversation.

"Things tend to do that. You know how everything is always a mess? I tend to make it that way and this is no exception. I thought I had a good read on the situation, I've been wrong before." Tony was making attempts to keep the melancholy from his voice, attempting to hold a more causal overtone. 

He watched as Nat's eyes flicked to something beyond him.

"Well, it's hard to read a book when it isn't written in English, I'll say that," she gave him a small smile.”And you always hate being wrong too.”

Tony furrowed his brow, looking over his shoulder in the direction to see Wong and Stephen with Peter and Thor over near the other end of the table. The two locked gazes for just a moment, a second long enough and it was a passing glance that spoke volumes as Stephen's eyes flicked over to Peter once again.

Tony turned back to Nat with the most subtle of sighs.

"I was never one to read the instructions before trying to work something, you know me."

"You must have been awful with Ikea furniture.” She giggled softly before continuing. ”Diving headfirst is definitely your specialty. Giving up, however, isn't." Nat raised the glass to her lips. "Have you tried Google translate?"

"What, you don't think I can handle it? Hard to do much when the messages are always encrypted," Tony took a heavy swig. "I just need to wait for this liquid courage to kick in, not that I need it."

"Of course," she laughed.

The others began to filter in and take their seats, with Stephen sitting almost as far from him as he could manage apparently. Steve stood to give some sort of welcome speech that Tony was sure was very inspiring, but he couldn’t really bring himself to pay much attention. He knew Steve’s speeches, but with other things on his mind he needed to figure out - like whether or not he could even bother talking to Stephen.

He wanted to figure this out, and no translator or AI in the world was going to be able to help him with that. If nothing else he wanted to know what the hell Stephen’s behaviour was all about the day before. The magus had given him the cold shoulder before, and even been dismissive, but yesterday he seemed almost  _ hostile _ and Tony couldn’t think of what he might’ve done to provoke that.

Frankly, the whole ordeal hurt.

He had feelings for Stephen, as much as he hated to realize that. And sure, he could take ‘no’ for an answer, but Stephen had never really said no - in fact, he’d given plenty of signs to indicate that he  _ was _ interested… why did all of this wind up so complicated? They’d been having such a nice date what felt like forever ago… why had everything gone so sideways?

His gaze lifted to seek out the sorcerer, only to find him politely staring at Steve as the man spoke, and Tony gave a sigh, finishing off his drink. 

Natasha poured him another without question.

Steve's speech continued to drawl out in an almost echoed babble in his mind as he felt a little lightheaded, stricken with an unavoidable ache with his funnelled attention.

Tony was no pretender, and trying to ignore the sting of rejection, it wasn't something he was capable of keeping bottled up before he’d inevitably snap under the pressure.

His hand tightened around the crystal glass, fingers turning white under the strain. His appetite fled as he sat back and put on a face that convinced all but Nat and those who really knew the engineer on a more profound level that he was ok. 

Peter, a few seats down, eyed him but didn't say anything. A glance flicking to him in between Cap's words of praise, concern laden in the boy.

"-Tony, would you like to say anything?" Steve regarded him and all eyes were on him at that moment, which caught him off guard. Though recovery wasn't hard for such a quick-thinking and silver-tongued influence such as himself.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, it would be hard to follow that up." He raised a glass, covering up his guise with a false smile. Eyes sweeping over the table in a quick arc and aptly avoiding Stephen before everyone joined him with water, wine or their drink of choice.

He didn’t miss the way Steve’s eyes lingered on him though he chose to ignore it. It was harder to ignore the man’s slight nudge as he came over to him.

“Are you going to talk to him?”

“He doesn’t want to talk to me. And why does it matter to you?”

“Why would he come if he didn’t want to talk to you?”

Tony gave Steve a flat look. “Because he was invited? How should I know? How much does being a magic doctor really pay?  _ Maybe he’s here for the food _ . Or for Thor, they seem to be getting along well.”

And it was true. 

Stephen wasn’t laughing but he did seem in considerably better spirits than he had the day before and Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to do anything to make a mess of that. He didn’t want to make Stephen feel like he had to leave in order to have some peace… he just wanted to talk about things.

Anything.

He wanted to socialize with the man who meant so much to him. It didn’t have to be romantic, as long as Stephen would talk to him again… because fuck! he missed that. He missed just picking the sorcerer’s thoughts, teasing him about magic, talking about medical technology, bantering back and forth about nothing in particular.

He tried to avoid glancing in Stephen’s direction, but the moment he did he found Stephen looking at him again. 

He offered a tentative smile, raising his glass in the other’s direction. Stephen hesitated briefly before raising his glass in return, dropping his gaze to the drink in his hand.

Patrons started to get up and mingle around, despite the table being the centralized area where everyone was seated. Food was passed around and Nat, tired of Tony's moping, got up and headed over to the epicentre of his focus to talk with Thor and briefly nudge Stephen up.

There was a degree of protest from the sorcerer who was content to stay hidden in the corner, clearly skittish in some way but doing his best not to show it.

"Mind if I borrow your chair indefinitely? I've got a better view of Thor's guns from here," Nat said a little suggestively, sparking a wide smile from the jolly blond.

Stephen looked up at her a little confused as she subtly nodded her head in Tony’s direction. "I also don't think you got around to thanking our host yet," she added and Stephen, hesitant to rise, slowly pushed out from his seat clearly second-guessing his choices albeit moving over to sit down next to Tony anyways.

The engineer looked up from his phone, setting it down and plastering on a wry smile despite the contrary emotions broiling in the pit of his stomach.

This was something he hadn't expected.

"Am I to assume you've passed your wizard PMS or are you just here to lay into me about personal space?"

“It was either sitting here or hovering somewhere. And I’m not much for hovering around during social gatherings when everyone else is seated. If that’s the other option, I’d rather just leave.”

“Well, by all means then, sit,” Tony teased the already seated man. Stephen simply stared at the table.

“Maybe I  _ should _ go,” Stephen sighed after a moment, leaving Tony to frown in response.

“I literally just told you to sit rather than leaving-”

“You also just made a comment that had some hefty insinuations,” the sorcerer interjected, his eyes still fixed on the table. “Are you expecting an apology?”

“I mean, an apology would be nice, but I’m not  _ expecting _ anything. I wasn’t even expecting you to show up today, given I was supposed to invite you and we never quite got to that point.”

“Wong invited me,” the sorcerer explained.

“And who invited him, I wonder?”

“Who indeed.”

They descended into silence, and Tony shifted in his seat for a few moments before sighing as he watched the sorcerer. “You don’t have to stay if you’re uncomfortable.”

“... maybe being uncomfortable is precisely why I should stay,” Stephen responded, finally lifting his head to look at Tony. “We should talk.”

“No good conversation has ever started with those words,” Tony sighed.

The brunette felt Stephen's stony gaze burrowing into him as he was pointedly avoiding eye-contact with the sorcerer. Stephen hadn't even responded and Tony could hear the figurative ticker of an egg timer notching away as if it were about to go off.

He knew his time was limited, and as much as he wanted to give Stephen the cold shoulder, there were things they needed to smooth out. Things he wouldn't just do for anyone but Stephen. By all rights, if it were anyone else he would have walked away.

Because he could do that. 

He didn't need to pay such frivolous qualms any attention. But this was easily more than that, and a part of him considered there still might be something to salvage outside of a working relationship.

With an exasperated sigh, he kicked his chair out and he didn't need to breathe a word to Stephen as the sorcerer followed him out of the room with a few inquisitive gazes following him.

Stephen looked over his shoulder as they rounded the corner and Tony pulled him into one of the first rooms.

"Don't worry, they won't hear our domestic if that's what you're worried about." Stephen stepped in and the doors closed automatically. Tony crossed his arms. "It's beyond me why you're still insisting on playing this game." Any amusement or good-spirit had been dropped from Tony's cadence of speech.

"I beg your pardon?" Stephen responded, clearly caught off-guard.

"I don't think there could be a louder, more blatant way of telling me you're just not god-damned interested than the way you’ve been acting - and don't bullshit me with this clueless faced, this hot and cold bravado." The words alone may have been sharp but they were spoken with exasperation if anything with patient, delicate words.

“Interested in what exactly?” Stephen inquired, staring at him with an expression fixed into neutrality. “The only person who’s been playing games here is you. You wanna talk about hot and cold, why don’t we start with the fundraiser where you went from calling me your date to making out with Miss Romanov?”

“You made it clear we  _ weren’t _ on a date, and there was no relationship there, why is this an issue?” Tony scowled.

“I didn’t say anything about a relationship. I said it wasn’t a date. You didn’t ask me out on a  _ date _ , Tony, you asked me to be your plus-one to an event-”

“And? That’s asking you on a date! You turned it into an issue!”

“And  _ you _ turned it into a game,” the sorcerer responded, his voice level and calm in a way that belied the rage he was certain was bubbling underneath. “You intentionally made efforts to make me jealous, and now you’re acting like a petulant child because  _ it worked. _ So who’s playing a game?

“Of course, as soon as you realized it worked you started feeling bad for yourself, so the next step was… what, to drug me? To try and mess around with my body chemistry in order to get me to sleep with you? So it doesn’t seem like it was about a date at all, was it? You were just pissy that I wasn’t crawling into your bed on a whim with you.”

“Excuse me?” Tony’s voice raised slightly at that. “Seriously, that’s what you think this is? You think I just wanted to spread you out on my bed? There are a hundred other people I could’ve easily convinced if that was my goal-”

“You’re not making this sound any better for yourself.”

Tony’s teeth clamped together hard enough to ache as he took a deep breath. “This was never about sex, Strange. This was about a stupid crush I had on you that I’m starting to question why I ever had.”

He was trying to get his point across, feet firmly planted as he had Stephen almost backed up against the door they'd come in through, hazel eyes reflecting all the emotion and energy his body gave no tells towards.

Tony had laid his cards down on the table and shown his hand, and now the ball was in his court. He knew Stephen could do the same and they might find an answer, but rather than direct answers it felt like the other preferred to make things even more convoluted with an ambiguous answer.

“I’m not sure I want the affections of someone who would talk about taking me on a date and then go and make-out with someone else,” Stephen responded tersely. “Doesn’t exactly sound like a good foundation for a healthy relationship of any sort.”

“You said it wasn’t a date! How many times do I have to point that out?”

“I said it wasn’t a date because I wasn’t invited out as a date! There was no romantic implication to your invitation! I figured that just meant we’d take the opportunity to feel that out and build something up - and your immediate response was…  _ that _ …” Stephen frowned deeply.

“I’m pretty sure my advances were clear. On the other hand, you didn’t give any indication that you felt the same in the slightest and every time I made an attempt to ask you out you shut me down,” Tony responded sharply, taking another step forward into Stephen’s space. His height was a factor against him in terms of being intimidating, but he’d scared bigger men in the past.

The sorcerer appeared unfazed, however.

“It sounds like you expect people to immediately bow to your whims the moment they’re presented with them. That isn’t how I work. If that’s what you want from someone, then you’d best find someone else. If you don’t have the patience to work for it, then we’re not a good fit.”

With that, he turned towards the door to leave and Tony found himself at a loss. 

He didn’t know whether to press a hand to the door in hopes of stopping the man from leaving or if he should simply let Stephen leave and end things here. 

He hated the idea of letting Stephen walk away. He hated that in many ways Stephen was right - he was  _ used _ to people being pretty accepting of him and his desires. He was used to being accommodated, and he wasn’t used to rejection.

Letting Stephen walk out that door meant that any work they'd put into building something more than a friendship between them would have all been for naught, and would therefore even make rebuilding anything that followed, difficult.

Tony acted on instinct and put his hand against the door as Stephen reached for the handle.

"Please don't," he started, there was a note of almost desperation and panic to his tone and despite easily being able to stand his ground against Stephen, and plant his heels down he knew he had to be the one to sway on this.

Stephen's hand rested on the door handle before it slid down and after what felt almost like an eternity, the doctor's shoulders seemed to slacken a bit as he turned around to face Tony who was nearly caging him up against the door with his smaller form.

"I didn't mean for it to come off that way," he continued and Stephen looked down at him with an unreadable expression.

"Then how exactly were you anticipating that it would be received?" he responded, there were some hints of apprehension to his voice as if probing for more.

"I like you... and we both clearly speak two different languages when it comes to this sort of thing." Tony tilted his head, looking up with a timid expression.

"Last time I checked, we both spoke at least one mutually understood language, Stark. Or did you also invent your own in that time?" the sorcerer let out a deep breath.

"Well, body language seems to be a hard thing to misinterpret." Stephen stared at him clearly waiting to see what played out as Tony went to gently grab his hand.

Tony waited for Stephen to pull away, he didn't as he took his wrist delicately.

"It is..." Stephen looked down at their hands.

"You think you could find the patience to try and give me another chance to do right by that?" he delicately cradled Stephen's hand in both of his, feeling the soft tremors.

“I’m not the one whose been lacking in patience,” the doctor responded quietly. “I’ve been waiting for you for more than a week now.”

“You were kinda giving me the cold shoulder there for a while,” Tony reasoned, “and I did try to reach out! And then yesterday - what was yesterday? Because I thought we were doing okay and then you were suddenly… pretty cold, to be honest.”

Stephen was quiet as he looked at their hands, gently curling one around Tony’s and sighing. “I was tired and in a lot of pain yesterday. I hadn’t expected you to come by…”

“Did you sleep at all? What happened? Are you hurt?” Tony frowned a little, finally looking up to take in Stephen’s posture on the whole.

He did look tired.

His shoulders were slumped slightly, his posture making him look a little smaller than usual. He was clearly favouring one leg, and Tony couldn’t help but wonder how he hadn’t noticed that earlier - had the cloak been helping him disguise it? His hand felt fairly steady in Tony’s hold, but he could see the way the other one trembled in its spot. There was even a subtle bruise that seemed to be hidden under his beard as though he’d been hit by something -  _ or someone _ ?

Stephen noticed his scrutiny easily enough and caught his eye as Tony finished his once-over. “How’d you hide all that? I’m usually-”

“More observant? Yes _ , usually _ you are,” Stephen agreed, and Tony huffed slightly.

“So you’re cranky when you’re sleep-deprived and in pain. That… seems reasonable. Why didn’t you just say something?”

“Because I was _ cranky and sleep-deprived _ ,” the doctor responded as though it was plainly obvious, though a small smile pulled at the corner of his lips.

Smiling was normally contagious, but Tony found himself more concerned than anything in regards to that small bit of enlightening information.

He let go of Stephen's hand and ever-so boldly reached up to touch the side of his face with some worry, smoothing it over the salt and pepper hairs of his beard and brushing along his cheek. A thumb gently caressed the fine hairs of his skin as he searched through Stephen's eyes with interest. 

Stephen gently pressed his own hand to Tony's, lightly shaking fingers trying to steady as he held the engineer's hand over his cheek.

"You really threw me for a loop," the brunette returned a smile of his own with a gentle exhale.

"Perhaps you should be paying more attention to what goes on around you," Stephen hummed lightly.

"What, as if I'm not paying enough attention to you already, princess?" he lightly zested.

"I don't like to share, I thought that was pretty clear, I'd prefer to be the center of your attention." Stephen's other hand lightly went around Tony's waist with a little more assertion and the brunette leaned in, stomach in his throat by effects of the contact he'd only until now dreamed of sharing with the sorcerer.

"You're turning out to be needier than I am," he chuckled, still looking up at the taller man, having his weight leaning fully into Stephen's chest. Their shared warmth was nice, and he debated taking the next step to steal a kiss from the man looking down at him with the most gentle smile.

"-and?" Stephen tilted his head.

“And that probably explains why you’ve been such a pain in my ass this whole time,” Tony huffed lightly, watching as Stephen rolled his eyes in amusement.

“I have been no such thing. I think someone’s letting his dreams get away from him.”

“What are you-? Stephen Strange! What kind of behaviour is that?” Tony covered his mouth as though aghast, attempting not to laugh as he did.

“You started it.”

“Pain in the ass is a totally normal turn of phrase! You made it perverted!”

“So what if I did?” Stephen inquired, tilting his head just slightly. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all. Far from it. But for someone who was talking about taking things slow, you sure slammed the gas pedal down,” Tony pointed out.

“A little bit of light teasing and flirting isn’t the same as slamming anything down.” Stephen smirked at him, "of course if you asked nicely..."

"You know, all I've really been asking for so far is a hug, or you know... to just sit down and cuddle up to you, but you're clearly ready to hurdle right over that one." Tony started to playfully explore Stephen's face, combing his fingers through those silver streaks at his temple.

"The answer's yes, by the way," Stephen's arms tightened around his waist and Tony felt his stomach dip like a schoolgirl. "And I'm not trying to skip any steps, but it would seem the great Tony Stark is having trouble keeping up with the Bleecker Street magician.”

"Hardly, even in a room full of people you still manage to make everyone else disappear, all eyes on you, they always have been." He sank into Stephen's front and fully wrapped his arms around the other man's waist, returning the gentle embrace.

Stephen smiled, letting out an amused rumble, and Tony felt it against his body. 

They stood there for a moment enjoying each other's company, not moving until Stephen finally brought a hand up to Tony's chin and it prompted him to look up inquisitively.

His stomach rolled in anticipation, wondering if he wasn't getting ahead of his own thoughts when shaky digits encouraged him in closer, Stephen still boring into him with a crystalline gaze.

Tony leaned in and met him halfway before he put any more thought into it, pressing his lips to Stephen's and receiving a headrush abundantly better than any endorphin release a shot of fine whiskey could ever offer him.

Stephen’s hand felt almost steady against Tony’s cheek as soft lips pressed against his. There was nothing intrusive about it, really it was fairly chaste for all their play talk. It was cathartic and exhilarating all at once to have Stephen’s arm wrapped firmly around his waist and to be held so close against him.

It was a kiss that felt like it lasted an eternity, light and gentle until Tony attempted to lean in for more. At that, Stephen hissed softly in pain and Tony felt the change as the cloak took up Stephen’s weight some.

“... shit, Stephen, I’m sorry! I got… carried away there for a second. Are you okay? Do you need anything? Can I help? Do you need a crutch?”

“I have a crutch,” Stephen chuckled a little, gesturing to the cloak pointedly as he tried to smooth away the pain on his face. “Don’t worry about it too much. I guess if we were feeling more frisky we’d have to wait a little before that happened.”

“No magic healing potions?”

“None that work on humans,” the sorcerer smiled, shaking his head. “And in the end, I am still human.”

"Underneath all that magic you're still soft and squishy," Tony let out a gentle exhaled chuckle as he once again carded his fingers through the sorcerer's hair, leaning in to rest his cheek on Stephen's shoulder, enjoying the moment.

“Am I, though…?” Stephen offered a playful smirk.

“I suppose I’ll have to find out, won’t I?”

* * *

"You're an awful friend."

"It slipped my mind, really - I had a lot going on!"

"A lot as in playing video games with the cloak and sleeping in the study from a food coma," Stephen tightened the tie of his suit, straightening it out. He couldn't help but roll his eyes and feel some sense of Deja Vu regarding Tony showing up thirty-minutes before they had to go to a very hastily planned birthday-bash for Bruce.

Tony lightly swatted Stephen's hands away, fixing the rather slack knot he'd done himself up with, smoothing out the shoulders of his suit blazer and fussing with the sorcerer's hair.

"This is a birthday party, Tony, not another mass social event."

"Doesn't mean I don't get my own present, a little bit of eye-candy for me at dinner. Just let me have this," Tony momentarily made a sour face as Stephen finally resigned himself to letting Tony fuss with his suit. "I get to actually show you off as mine, and I'm going to enjoy every moment of it."

Stephen let out a soft sigh, the cloak sliding over and wrapping around the sorcerer's neck and taking on the appearance of a red scarf. It was a nice accent against the dark coloured suit.

"Did you remember the gift?" Tony asked, checking himself over before leaning up to steal a kiss from Stephen's cheek as he was distracted.

"Absolutely," he nodded to the paper bag ironically wrapped with green Hulk party wrapping paper. Tony picked it up and went to hook his arm with Stephen's with a smile.

"Would you do the honours?" He looked up to Stephen with a boyish grin.

"It would be my pleasure." Stephen smiled, holding up both hands to create a rote movement and open up a breach to the compound's main atrium.

The room was beautifully dressed up - as anyone would expect from the collaborative efforts of Pepper Potts, Natasha Romanov and James Rhodes. Carol Danvers, Wanda Maximoff and Steve Rogers were the food squad, with Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne and a young girl that Stephen assumed was Scott’s rather infamous daughter, stacking up a few gifts and chatting amidst each other.

Wong had volunteered for clean-up duty with a few others, and Tony was naturally footing the bill for the whole event as he tended to do. As for him? His job was to look pretty. And maybe put on a fireworks show of a sort later on, but he hadn’t exactly spoken to Tony about that matter - it was a surprise.

“Hey! About time you two showed up,” Carol greeted cheerfully, waving them over.

“I’m surprised you didn’t help with the decorating. None of the decorating crew can fly,” Tony teased and the Major grinned.

“But it’s so fun to watch them struggle,” the blonde woman chuckled. “Anyway, dinner will be coming in a bit later, don’t ruin your appetite too much with snacks, alright?”

“Understood, but no promises,” Tony responded, and Stephen shook his head.

“I’ll make sure he has an appetite.”

"Me? You're usually the one getting snacking on sweet things," Tony shot Stephen a look and his arm was around Tony's hips, pulling him up against his side. 

Stephen leaned over to mumble something much quieter into his ear with a Cheshire grin. "Well, the only sweet thing here at the moment that I can get my hands on is you, so dinner better be soon." The sorcerer's hand gently rubbed the back of Tony's neck and he felt the brunette shudder some under his ministrations.

"Easy there tiger, wait for dinner first," he zested back, slipping his arm around Stephen's elegantly narrow waist in return. 

Stephen was about to comment on that before Natasha stepped up and seized both their attention.

"Well you boys certainly managed to work out your differences," the red-head smirked, looking between the two men who were playfully jesting. Stephen looked rather smug, enjoying the teasing while Tony looked like his feathers had just been ruffled.

"We kissed and made-up," Stephen responded.

"Oh, I can assure you we did more than that," Tony smirked.

"Well hold your appetites, dinner is almost here, I'm sure you two can hold out for a few more minutes," she quirked a brow.

“I suppose we can,” Stephen agreed, looking around the room. “Where is the guest of honour?”

“Bruce?” Natasha tilted her head for a moment, then shrugged. “We’re expecting him any moment. He’s what dinner’s waiting on. Thor went to get him a little bit ago, so you never know when he’ll arrive exactly.”

Her words were particularly timely, however, as moments later a booming voice filled the room. “Welcome, Bruce Banner! And a happy celebration of your birth!”

“Happy birthday!” the room echoed loudly as people ceased their conversations and turned to cheer for a rather stunned looking Bruce Banner.

He felt for the man in many ways - Bruce didn’t strike him as fond of surprises, nor of crowds - but he seemed to slowly relax as he realized he was surrounded by friends and fond acquaintances. He took a few steps into the room to look around at everyone, and a smile slowly blossomed on his face as he identified the various individuals there.

After a quiet ‘thank you,’ Bruce shuffled through the crowd immediately towards the food and Natasha laughed softly to herself.

“Excuse me, boys, I need to stop another one of you from spoiling their appetite.”

As she marched off with absolute intention in every step, Stephen shook his head and planted a kiss on Tony’s temple. “I don’t know what she’s thinking. My appetite is just fine.”

"At this rate, I don't know if I'll even be able to wait for cake, especially with all this sugar," he playfully mumbled, grabbing Stephen's collar and stealing a proper kiss on the mouth which had the sorcerer rumbling softly in content as he responded.

Tony smiled and tugged Stephen over to the table to take a seat, it wasn't long until birthday cheers had begun, food was served over light jaunty merriments and then cake to follow. The traditional doling out presents was next and Stephen could feel the anticipation wafting off Tony as he waited for Bruce to open their gift.

It was in good humour when the poor doctor had gotten to Tony and Stephen's present, opening the thoughtfully wrapped offering only to reveal an all-too-familiar bottle which had Tony sniggering in his seat and Stephen with a wry smile on his face as it took Bruce a moment to register what he was exactly holding in his hands.

"Wait - Tony-" his eyes went wide and almost dropped the bottle on the table as he read 'For Hulk-sized problems' on the side of the bottle and his cheeks turned scarlet.

_ Bruce knew. _

Oh, he knew what was in that bottle. Best of all? He was blaming Tony.

"Seriously?!" he looked up. "That's wrong, so wrong!" 

He didn't know what to do about it and Tony lost it, laughing quite heartily while everyone else looked confused, especially with Thor leaning over to get a closer look.

"Is this some sort of potent Midgardian spirit? I shall be the judge of that," Thor grabbed the bottle and Bruce was visibly panicking as he tried to confiscate it from the god of thunder.

"Thor, no! Put that down!”

Tony’s laughter had become entirely uncontrollable as he curled in against Stephen, relying on him to hold him up, so it was the cloak that swept over to abscond with the gift in Stephen’s stead.

“Thor, you do know it’s rude to help yourself to someone else’s birthday gift, don’t you?” Stephen chided absently as the cloak settled on his shoulders again and he took hold of the bottle. “This is Doctor Banner’s to test or not test as he pleases.”

As Bruce looked at him he couldn’t help the slight smirk that quirked on his lips. The look on Bruce’s face changed and after a moment he gave an exasperated sigh. “Are you in on this, too?”

“I’m certain I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Stephen responded with a little grin.

“I don’t know why I ever thought you two in a relationship was a good idea. Whose idea was this, anyway?” the man asked as Tony attempted to sober himself up against Stephen’s side.

“Oh, it was Stephen’s. All Stephen’s idea. I just wrapped it prettily.”

“You two are going to be the death of me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! The conclusion of Persistence! We hope you enjoyed this chaotic attempt at a 5+1! We had a lot of fun writing it.
> 
> Next week we have a very special oneshot coming that we're very excited to share. 😉 We'll see anyone who's interested then!
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This story was co-written by two authors from start to finish. You can find us on Twitter:
> 
> [Amy (Foxglove)](https://twitter.com/marvelwizardmom)  
> [Astral (Bravehardt)](https://twitter.com/Kraionis)


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